Last week, I had a couple of meetings. More like meetups. Networking opportunities. Just out here connecting and doing my thing. Learning to listen more and talk less in an effort to find my way to better, more dynamic opportunities. I love meeting new people and getting out from behind my computer. And I take advantage of most opportunities to do so.

So I finally got the meeting. Awesome. I get there and they're lovely. Another plus. Then that thing happens. They say the thing that immediately lets me know they've already put me in a box. Not the box I'm really in. Damn. We were doing so well.

Sometimes, they don't realize they've done it. It's like a reflex engrained in them, causing them to automatically put limitations on people on sight. We've all done it. It's annoying. But when it happens to us, we immediately want to convince the culprit that we're not supposed to be in that box, but a different box. A more appropriate box. A more respectable box. 

But like I said, I am learning to listen more and talk less. So when this sort of thing happens to me, I have the option to respond in two ways:

1. Say nothing, or
2. Immediately go into, "Let me try as hard as I can to convince you I'm different than you've already decided I am" mode.

These days I choose the former because I'm the package.  I get to choose the box I fit in. Period.