You’ll barely remember your first impression of your best friend. That should tell you how little first impressions mean.

The person who matters most to you now probably registered as nothing in particular on day one. You cannot recall the first conversation, which is good evidence that an opening five minutes carries very little information about anybody. Closeness gets built out of hundreds of unremarkable exchanges, none of which looked like a beginning while it was happening.

So put less weight on how a first meeting went, including yours. Give somebody who seemed unremarkable three more encounters before you file them away. And relax about the first days where you came across badly.