Extreme Makeover Edition

So returning home for Christmas? Remember one very important thing... You will not ever be able to show how much older, cooler, or more mature you think you've become while you've been away to anyone back in your home town. You will not be older than 8 years old to your mom. You will not get past that first impression you gave to most people you kind of know back home. Your best friends will always see you as the whatever person you were in high school. Your sister will still think you're a bully and your brother will still be a bully... maybe... Your mom hopes your still 8 and your Dad hopes you're already 30. Your mom wants you always to stay home, and your Dad wants you to get out of the house and stop using his money and stuff and will look really hard for any signs of the new you that maybe, possibly, hopefully, mean can support yourself by the time you're 30.
The reason? Pride. It's because people like to think they're really smart and never wrong, so after they've formed an impression of you they intentionally look for signs and clues in your character to back up that impression. It doesn't matter what you do, you could do 100 new things that would never fit into a person's impression of you, but if you do one thing that fits into it then the impression is re-inforced. Congratulations, you're stuck. It's true, it's science, first impressions are very important. Take that all you angry emo kids that say don't judge by looks. Is there any hope you ask? Get a haircut, get glasses, change your style and maybe you'll look so different people will think you had to have changed.
But second problem... A Bernak says we can't help but live up to others expectations of us. With high school friends you get fit back into the mold of the person you were in high school. With sports buddies you're the jock. With people that find out you went to Harvard you're... smart? With siblings you fall into old routines and old habits. You act how you think you're supposed to act. Wait, no? You're different? You don't fall into herd mentality? You're the rebel that's true to yourself and keeps it real...? Sure you are...