For optimal article enjoyment, I highly recommend loading up Shania Twain’s “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and hitting play before proceeding.
People can be impressed by a wide range of different things, but some of them are far more worthy of admiration than others. Diligent effort, integrity, courage, and kindness are just a few of them.
In contrast, the things listed below are far more superficial and tend to awe those who either have limited life experience or a blinkered perspective. If they don’t impress you any longer, it’s a good sign that you’ve evolved into a mature and wise person indeed.
1. Displays of wealth.
Some people may ooh and ahh at gold-plated bidets or shoes that are dripping with diamonds, but those who have gained real-life perspective know that ostentatious displays of wealth are as useless as they are vulgar.
The greatest treasures are those you enjoy and offer others in order to remain healthy and happy long-term. Warmth, food, friendship, and good health are far more valuable than a gold necklace that’ll lose its lustre in no time flat.
Furthermore, with wisdom, you learn that whereas the things a person owns can be taken away or lost at any time, our character lasts forever.
2. A person’s status.
Over the years, you may have known a lot of people who’d lose their ability to think or speak if they ran into a celebrity. In fact, you may have been starstruck as well and didn’t know how to behave if you met someone famous.
Now that you’re older and wiser, you recognize that these individuals are just human beings like everyone else. They aren’t ascended beings, nor are they superheroes: they eat, sleep, and sneeze just like you do. They’re simply more well-known because they’ve been in the public eye for one reason or another. In 100 years, hardly anyone will even remember their names.
3. Flamboyant gestures.
Some people try to impress potential mates by spending an extraordinary amount of money on them simply to show that they can. For example, they might arrange a limousine ride to a Michelin-starred restaurant and finish off the evening with an extravagant gift. But these efforts have little to do with the person being wooed: in reality, they’re self-aggrandizing acts of personal affection. The big spender is showing off how much they have, rather than paying any attention to what the other person wanted or needed.
In contrast, if you’ve grown wise and mature, you’ve likely become a person who is deeply appreciative of sincere gestures done by those who have taken the time to get to know you and put real effort into showing you that they care.
Case in point: I once dated a model who spent a lot of money on things I wasn’t interested in, and took me out to fancy restaurants I had no interest in trying. In comparison, knowing that my partner spends several weeks knitting something to keep me warm when I’m working outside, in the colors and textures she knows I love best, means the world to me.
4. Popularity.
The same people who looked up to (and were intimidated by) the popular kids in high school often end up being awestruck by the popular folks in their older social circles as well. You know the types: those who are attractive and charismatic and are usually surrounded by throngs of admirers. If that person has achieved a position in the public eye, then they become even more impressive to a certain demographic.
Meanwhile, with wisdom, you learn to appreciate individuals for their authentic selves, and for the things that bring them joy, rather than how many people fawn over them. This doesn’t mean you put down those who have achieved recognition, but you’re far more impressed by those who are humble philanthropists than those who seek attention for its own sake.
5. Cruelty.
Some people may have been impressed by a “Negan” type, i.e., someone who would deliberately belittle and dominate everyone around them as a show of prowess or force. This isn’t a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, anyone who has read the world’s oldest epic poem, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” would have recognized that the demigod behaved in a grandiose manner to cement his perception of his own magnificence.
Young people are often easily impressed by bad behaviour, especially when done by a cocksure individual who either faces no consequences for their actions or laughs in the face of punishment. In contrast, those who have matured and experienced life’s myriad difficulties recognize the importance of kindness and compassion over bullying and domination. The former displays strength, the latter, childishness.
6. Easy achievements.
Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to be impressed by those who excel effortlessly rather than with a great deal of hard work. But as you go through life and gain wisdom, you learn to recognize the importance of equity vs. equality. Similarly, you recognize that something that is easy for one person to achieve may require an extraordinary amount of committed effort from another.
As such, you’re consistently impressed by those who have overcome great odds and put a great deal of effort into their achievements because you understand how much blood, sweat, and tears they’ve poured into them. To someone with wisdom and maturity, an amputee who comes in second-last in a 5km marathon deserves far more applause and admiration than a trust fund kid who owns a business at 20 because their parents bought it for them.
7. Social media presence.
At some point over the last couple of decades, “influencers” started popping up all over social media. These were people who didn’t have anything of merit to share with the world, but instead garnered attention by opening boxes or muckraking about current events. Essentially, people who were trying to be someone special and achieve social validation via drama and/or spectacle.
But if you’ve gained wisdom, you’re more likely to be impressed by those who don’t really partake in social media very much, but instead are very present and diligent about their own lives and close circles. You’d rather engage with people who do community charity work or tend their own gardens than post insipid tripe online 30 times a day.
8. Hustle culture.
Some people are terribly impressed by those who seem to be outputting 24/7. Those who do so often brag about how much they’re outputting, how little they sleep, that they’re working four jobs and barely eating, and may be able to retire by 30 because of all the effort they’re expending. In reality, they’re breaking down bit by bit, both physically and mentally, and they’re more likely to have a heart attack at 30 than an early retirement.
Now, you respect those who admit when they’re struggling and who prioritize rest instead of wearing themselves to the bone. Furthermore, if they let others know that they need help and accept that help when it’s given, you admire that behavior even more.
9. Name dropping.
When we were quite young, and we found out that someone we knew had met somebody famous, that often left us awestruck. After all, they must be pretty special if that celebrity or public figure chose to spend time with them!
Now that you’re older and wiser, you likely recognize that people name-drop famous people they’ve interacted with as a means of gaining status by proxy. It’s a way of showing off how important they are without actually being important, rather like how people in the Regency period rented pineapples for dinner parties to impress others with how affluent they were.
Final thoughts…
When you look back on the things that used to impress you, you might likely wince a bit and feel embarrassed about your actions. Please try not to do this: that younger, less experienced version of yourself was doing the best they could with the knowledge and maturity that they had at the time.
Instead, appreciate how much you’ve grown and evolved over the years, secure in the knowledge that you’ve become a person that a younger you would have looked up to and been proud of.
