How to Get Rid of an Immature Reputation

Own up to your past and embrace all of yourself - the old and the new, improved version. Here's how to get your family and friends to recognize you too.

[edit] Steps

  1. Start with the premise you were a weird and/or immature individual. So you aren't like the conventional crowd. Whether you talk too much, act like a child, dress differently than others, have a different opinion, a different view, or think differently than the rest, no matter the circumstance- if you are weird and/or immature who cares? Just own up to who you really truly are as an individual. Admitting you were who they say you were, even if you are not any more, it's still the same - you will shock people when you stop denying what they are saying.
  2. Acknowledge and own your past behavior. Once you have validated them (told them that they are not wrong about you), you can put it in the past and move on.
  3. Correct them if they refer to you in the same old way. Don't get angry - remember, you're the weird one. You're the immature one. Or you were. And that's the operative word - remind them that you have seen the light and changed, and you are now a responsible citizen.
  4. Give them time. This is one of the reasons why your parents caution you against developing a reputation like this - it takes a long time to change peoples' perception of you as an immature, strange individual. A really long time.
  5. Accept that some will never revise their opinions. And you can't make them change, all you can really do is live up to the rumors of your reputation stop denying yourself to others and remember, their opinion is only as important as you let it be.
  6. Make sure you don't relapse into weirdness. You've worked so hard on being normal, and the last thing you need is to start acting strange again.


[edit] Tips

  • Pointing out the ways you have changed and grown, and reminding some people often that they aren't perfect either may help you make progress.
  • Eventually, you might have to get a little harsher. Being rude in a nice way is possible, say something rude about the other person but in the nicest way you can.
  • Remember being nice and being right are not the same, you can be right and be a truthful person along with lying while being the nice person.
  • Remind yourself that when people say that "it's going to be hard to live something down," this is what they're talking about. It was you who chose to live a daring life of weirdness and non-conformity. That carries its own rewards, but one of the prices you have to pay is the fact that once people form an opinion of you, it's very hard to get them to revise it. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.


[edit] Warnings

  • Be careful not to let others make you feel anything, only you should control you.
  • Don't let the resistance to change on the part of others stop you from moving ahead positively with your life. You're the one living your life, and it really isn't any of their business in the end.


[edit] Things You'll Need

  • A new mindset
  • Determination
  • Patience
  • Motivation


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Categories:Managing Negative Feelings

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MissMe, Brett, Sondra C, C, Flickety, Will, Maluniu, Chinatsu, Jack H, Foxglove, Anonymous, Dave Crosby, Cherry Blossom Girl, Tipper, Amy Bright, I Love You
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