I am an overestimator of people. Time and time again I give them far too much credit and place way too much confidence in their integrity, honesty, intelligence and talent. I suppose because I see the glass half-full that I am susceptible to this chronic overestimation. Not only do I give people the benefit of the doubt, I actually esteem them higher than they deserve. It’s like I'm on a Kool-Aid diet when I first meet people; but then I get to know them for who they truly are and my sugary elixir is suddenly taken away and I am left disappointed and disillusioned... and a bit sour. I thought them way too precious. It’s not their fault that they are flawed and dumber than I thought.
I have a gift for making people feel really good when they first cross paths with me. Because I put them on a pedestal. This makes them feel special and important. And they are… but not nearly as wonderful as I estimated them to be in the beginning. Once my perspective changes, I see them for who they really are: fairly plain, fairly normal, fairly boring and fairly average.
And when they too realize that I am now seeing their true selves—flaws and mediocrity and awkwardness—they fall back to ground level or perhaps even lower, sinking deeper than they were before they were overestimated by this overestimator.
I have a gift for making people feel really good when they first cross paths with me. Because I put them on a pedestal. This makes them feel special and important. And they are… but not nearly as wonderful as I estimated them to be in the beginning. Once my perspective changes, I see them for who they really are: fairly plain, fairly normal, fairly boring and fairly average.
And when they too realize that I am now seeing their true selves—flaws and mediocrity and awkwardness—they fall back to ground level or perhaps even lower, sinking deeper than they were before they were overestimated by this overestimator.