i am late to your party this week... many thanks, as always,for your thoughtful words. the way you put yourself out in the world, with all your flaws (as we all have, even if not the same ones) is welcome reading. ❤️🧡💛💚💙🩵💜
Well said. I sometimes panic about not recognizing even people I know well. There was that one trip when my husband was out of town for two weeks and I was sitting in the airport waiting for his flight to come in (back in thedays when you could do that), and the stress level went up, what if I didn't recognize him when he got off the plane? This was a man whom I had seen and spent considerable time with for several years.
I did recognize him immediately, but the fear was real.
Or when a good friend moved out of state and we decided to get together for a girl's weekend at Yosemite. She also flew in and I had the same panic--it had been probably 2 years since I had seen her.
I did recognize her immediately, but the fear was real.
Hair color & style is the main thing I notice. Like the first week at a new contract, when I accosted a young woman with shoulder-length straight blonde hair and started dumping info and questions. She finally said, bewildered, why are you asking me--I know nothing about these things--and directed me to the proper woman elsewhere in the building, who also had shoulder-length straight blonde hair.
I have read that most people have some degree of Prosopagnosia. Some research indicates that a majority of people can't recognize many famous faces with the hair removed from their photos.
My best friend stopped smiling a few years back. Last time I visited, she complimented me on my ability to summon up a happy smile for photos at any time. I said surely she could work on that, too, since she has a lovely smile. But that's when she told me that she had a missing tooth (I think one 3rd from the front) and knew that people would judge her on that so she wo uld never smile with open lips. I said, this is the first I knew that you were missing a tooth.
Thank you for sharing! It's so interesting that a lot of people seem to have this problem! And I've taken that little quiz about the famous people with the hair removed and I actually do well on that because I know "this guy has those kind of eyes" or whatever. I've worked on features so that's how I identify a lot of people - by uniquely shaped eyes or a specific type of nose.
I love your writing. And this is spot on about letting things hold you back. I may also be partially face blind. I certainly don't recognize people out of context. For instance, horse people I know away from the barn. etc. just not nearly as bad as you do. Good job on working on it.
Thank you so much, Peggy! I think i do pretty okay most of the time but it really is a fascinating and odd issue. Some people can't recognize their families or themselves! It's wild.
i am late to your party this week... many thanks, as always,for your thoughtful words. the way you put yourself out in the world, with all your flaws (as we all have, even if not the same ones) is welcome reading. ❤️🧡💛💚💙🩵💜
Thank you so much! Flaws are part of the human condition and can sometimes be turned into strengths, I think. Or at least into positives!
A discord group that I'm in coincidentally started talking about how it it's not always easy to recognize even people that you know.
I posted a link to your article here, and one person said
"that was really interesting! if you talk to this person, tell them i really enjoyed reading that 👍"
That's so awesome! Thank you!
Well said. I sometimes panic about not recognizing even people I know well. There was that one trip when my husband was out of town for two weeks and I was sitting in the airport waiting for his flight to come in (back in thedays when you could do that), and the stress level went up, what if I didn't recognize him when he got off the plane? This was a man whom I had seen and spent considerable time with for several years.
I did recognize him immediately, but the fear was real.
Or when a good friend moved out of state and we decided to get together for a girl's weekend at Yosemite. She also flew in and I had the same panic--it had been probably 2 years since I had seen her.
I did recognize her immediately, but the fear was real.
Hair color & style is the main thing I notice. Like the first week at a new contract, when I accosted a young woman with shoulder-length straight blonde hair and started dumping info and questions. She finally said, bewildered, why are you asking me--I know nothing about these things--and directed me to the proper woman elsewhere in the building, who also had shoulder-length straight blonde hair.
I have read that most people have some degree of Prosopagnosia. Some research indicates that a majority of people can't recognize many famous faces with the hair removed from their photos.
My best friend stopped smiling a few years back. Last time I visited, she complimented me on my ability to summon up a happy smile for photos at any time. I said surely she could work on that, too, since she has a lovely smile. But that's when she told me that she had a missing tooth (I think one 3rd from the front) and knew that people would judge her on that so she wo uld never smile with open lips. I said, this is the first I knew that you were missing a tooth.
anyhoo--thanks for the thoughts.
Thank you for sharing! It's so interesting that a lot of people seem to have this problem! And I've taken that little quiz about the famous people with the hair removed and I actually do well on that because I know "this guy has those kind of eyes" or whatever. I've worked on features so that's how I identify a lot of people - by uniquely shaped eyes or a specific type of nose.
I love your writing. And this is spot on about letting things hold you back. I may also be partially face blind. I certainly don't recognize people out of context. For instance, horse people I know away from the barn. etc. just not nearly as bad as you do. Good job on working on it.
Thank you so much, Peggy! I think i do pretty okay most of the time but it really is a fascinating and odd issue. Some people can't recognize their families or themselves! It's wild.