Don't Identify with Labels

Our world is obsessed with labels. Fat, stupid, victim, unemotional, etc. The problem is, even if that is true, it is only true for that exact instant. You have to be careful that you don’t start to identify with whatever label you’re presented with. I’m finally starting to realize that I’ve been doing that, and I see others do it all the time.

I had a wonderful break-through the other day. All my life, my excuse has been “I have no upper-body strength.” Period. That’s just a fact of life. I just don’t have it. Somehow that translated into an unspoken assumption that I will NEVER have it. But that isn’t true! That’s something you can work on and overcome. Duh! As far away in the future as it may be, I can work to accomplish that. That is not an impossible goal at all. That’s not something for me to assume I will fail on, since clearly, “I have no upper-body strength.”

Same goes for weight. Just because you’re overweight now doesn’t mean you will always be. These can all be self-fulfilling prophecies, if you let them. But they are not written in stone. They are never written in stone.

Another one I see with a lot of people is, “Oh, I’m not a compassionate person.” Sure, maybe that’s true now, but you are drastically limiting your growth as a human being on the journey of life if you choose to think that is a solid fact that will always be the case. People change all the time. Experiences break you down to build you back up, light-bulbs go off and compassion is definitely a trait that can result from it. That’s just something that has to be revealed to you – you have to learn to SEE. Sure, you can’t just snap your fingers, or even practice, necessarily. Something has to happen to make you CARE and SEE. But that is not unheard of at all.

Those are just a few examples. Don’t let labels get to your head. Even good ones, because one day something will go against it and your image of yourself will shatter. It doesn’t have to. You can always get it back. It doesn’t say anything about you, it just puts words to whatever situation you are in at any given time. They are just words. People are more complex than that.

That reminds me, I like to identify with INFJ, the Meyers-Briggs personality type. I love it because the descriptions make me feel like FINALLY someone GETS me! That’s all well and good initially – the fact that it made me feel like I wasn’t completely misunderstood and alone. It helped me see why my interactions with people were sometimes confused. But even then, I shouldn’t identify with it. Just because the definition fits perfectly, doesn’t mean I should let it be an excuse for anything I do. Like being an introvert in general – I could use it to cancel all my plans and hide away to “recharge” in private. But that’s just using it to justify a behavior I need to work on. I have been working on that – even when I feel I need time to recharge, I can still work with my emotions and stress levels such that I can keep going until I have the appropriate time to relax. That really helps me reduce the amount of stress I have and guide myself to a healthier way of living.

What labels are you holding yourself to? Can you work to remove it from your description of yourself?