To stereotype something or someone is to give a fixed form to.

Do you ever stereotype someone? Of course you do. Truth is, we all do it. We see a person and assume who they must be because of the way they look, talk, or behave. Now! Here is a more interesting question. Do you stereotype your lover or potential lover? That is, Do you give a fixed form on your lover or who your lover should be?

Everything I am about to write about comes from experience and mire opinion. Nothing is for insight on how to find a working romantic relationship or anything of the sort. You have been warned.

What I would really like to focus on are relationships in general. For example a coworker, a friendship, a family member, and yes even a romantic relationship as well. How do you approach the way you see people? Are you even aware of how you see people? Do you stereotype a person’s look, or do you stereotype the person’s personality? Do you prefer to speak to someone who speaks properly, or do you prefer to speak with someone who does not use such big words? Do you prefer to hangout with someone who dresses a certain way? Is it important the way someone is dressed? What questions stood out to you the most? Both attitude and appearances are very much stereotyped in our society. I was guilty of it myself and in some form still am. I am becoming more aware of it, however. Being aware of how I stereotyped other people has helped me meet more interesting people, and start wonderful relationships that I would have never thought I could have. All I had to do was drop my stereotype of the person’s looks and personality and in turn I did not have a blockade up against getting closer to that person. It even helps for small interactions, like when you meet someone for the very first time.

Once you become aware of how you stereotype someone you will learn how to put it away and start enjoying different kinds of meaningful relationships. We are not meant to interact with just one kind of personality or personalities that are similar to our own. Everyone is different even in the slightest ways. We are all uniquely made. So the key is to prevent a road block to get to know others.

For example, if you meet someone who looks normal (physical stereotype) and then you start talking to that person and realize that the person is really into video games, you will instantly stereotype that person as a gamer (personality stereotype) and in turn, push them away not really knowing who that person is because of a personality stereotype. The person’s appearance did not push you away it was the first thing they talked about that did. You now have it fixed in your mind that this person is uninteresting to you because of one of the persons interest when you do not even know any of the persons qualities yet. This person could have had amazing qualities.

We need to give ourselves time to find out a person’s qualities instead of giving people a fixed form on who they are. We need to put that guard down. If we do not do this we can potential miss out on great friendships and even an awesome romantic relationship. We need to realize that not everyone likes the same things that we do, but by all means that does not mean we can never get along with that person. Some do not realize how much we take away from people when we put these walls up. We miss out on people for who they really are. It is almost like keeping yourself in a cage with only the people that you know. We have opportunities to learn about different personalities and how to interact with them. We can also learn about ourselves in the process. When we see other’s likes and dislikes we start to recognize our own likes and dislikes.

Sometimes I wish that I can put everyone that I have really connected with in one room to see how they all interact with one another. All the people that I have met that are young, old, big, small, tall, short, gamers, hippies, Cristian, atheist, Jewish, free spirited, curly haired, straight haired, big eyes, small eyes, intelligent, average wits, funny, sad, boring, peaceful, nice, caring, and loving people. People that love in their own ways.