“He’s just trying to impress me“, she said to me. I agreed with her; the guy in question was visiting from another country and was indeed trying to impress her at this party. However, me and my friend knew that this guy was just impressing her in order to appear as a good person. She told me she knew he was already in a relationship, and so was she, and she knew he wanted nothing from her. Even then, my friend thought about the reasons this guy would want to impress her.

She started questioning the possibility that he could be impressing her in order to appreciate her. That reminded me of my post last month in which I hinted at the question of whether or not impressing someone is the same as appreciating someone.

It seems that in many cases, one can effectively try to impress someone in order not to benefit themselves, but to appreciate the other person. This in turn automatically results in both parties benefiting, hopefully.

Is it a crime to impress others?

I wonder if people actually feel that they have caught someone in the “act” if they notice someone trying to impress them. It is as if one was committing a crime by impressing someone. Some times, I see people trying to impress simply to create an impression of appreciation, which is better than lying about appreciating while not doing anything to appreciate. However, some people get upset and say “Oh he/she is just trying to impress me“, even if the person trying to impress has no personal interest other than to show appreciation of some sort.

For example, someone telling you about the origin of coffee may not be because of that person wanting to show-off their knowledge, but to impress you by showing that they want to interact with you through a topic related to the activity you are involved in.

Online, the act of impressing someone can be misunderstood

Online, it can be easy to misunderstand the art and the act of impressing others, and instead one can perceive such things as being part of showing off. Even if such was the case, the aim of such an impression, or such an act of impressing others, solely exists in many people only to make the other person feel appreciated in some manner.

What is your opinion about the possibility that sometimes only trying to impress someone may actually be a good thing? Thanks for reading.