I have this theory that everyone has a "keyhole fact" that unlocks who they actually are as a person, not who you might assume they are. Let me explain.
It's very idealized and romantic to think we always have a completely open mind whenever we meet someone new, but I just don't think that's the case. When we meet people for the first time, we only get a partially drawn image of their personality, and I don't think our brains like simmering in that ambiguity for long. So we draw in the rest of the lines based on whatever template we think fits them best. Finance bro. Basic white girl. Book worm. Horse girl. The list goes on. We don't actively ignore the nuances in their personality; we just don't have enough information to fill out the full picture yet, so we take what we know and make assumptions on the rest. We make them into a character.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing; if you told everyone you met, "I can't wait to see the depths of your personality," that person would match you to their "psychopath" template pretty quickly. But you also can't bank on these assumptions forever. At some point you do have to turn that corner with a person and figure out who they actually are outside of the character you drew for them.
And this is where the idea of a"keyhole fact" comes in. I think everyone has one thing about them that sort of unlocks that pathway from the character to the person. It's more than just an important or unique thing about you or any other "fun fact." It's the thing you tell people that makes them do a double take, because that double take is the look of whatever boilerplate stereotype they labeled you with shattering. It's when the stoner leaves the smoke shop to go to Tuesday evening mass or when the deathly quiet girl in math walks into class with an EDM festival wristband. It's the fact that slaps you across the face with a juxtaposition that makes you go, "Dang...maybe I don't actually know this person very well." It's the fact about yourself that makes you think, "I don't think anyone could really understand who I am without knowing this about me." That's the keyhole fact.
It's fun trying to figure out what that fact is for other people. Everyone is interesting, and whenever it seems someone is proving me wrong there, I realize it's not because they're genuinely generic but because I just haven't yet found that keyhole.
If you're reading this, I'd like to know what you think yours is. Maybe you can shatter my image of you.
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