Stop the Labels!

“Labels are devices for saving talkative persons the trouble of thinking”  - John Morley

Stop stamping a label on your forehead.  And for crying out loud, stop letting others do it for you!

We spend so much of our time trying to fit in, not making noise, flying under the radar.  We twist and change ourselves for others, for society.  We place ourselves in boxes with labels provided by outside sources.  We make sure we don’t offend or make anyone else uncomfortable with how we look, what we believe, what we say and how we say it.  All for the sake of falling under the perfect label.

Why do we do this?

Is it the disease to please?  Do we desire to be invisible?  Do we base our self worth on how others perceive us?  Are we addicted to other people liking us? 

I’m sure there will always be some of that.  I mean, don’t we all want to feel like we belong when we’re around our family and friends, to some extent?  How can we make that happen and still remain true to who we are?

Society places labels on us from birth and that continues throughout our lives.  Tall, short, fat, thin, gay, straight, married, single, christian, atheist, children, childfree, employed, homemaker, etc. 

What about the labels that our family and friends place on us?  We are often labeled in our families:  Older, younger, wild, complacent, free spirit, professional, quiet, loud, etc.

And in our friend circles don’t we base who we spend time with on labels?  Our politics, religious beliefs, how cerebral or educated we are, how we parent and/or school our children.  These are all labels we use to determine how much we have in common and therefore dictate how worthy another person is of our time.

Are we letting these labels define us?  As if these are labels are ALL that we are.  Why do we let these labels decide who we spend time with?  Who we fall in love with?  Who we find worthy of our positive attention?

Isn’t it boring spending time with people who think, believe, react and feel so similarly to yourself?  Why aren’t we embracing each others differences instead of placing a stamp on people and using it to keep people at s distance?  What are we so afraid of?  What are we, ourselves, hiding?

Here is what I propose.  Stop labeling yourself first.  Just don’t do it.  You are uniquely YOU.  There is no other you in this world.  How wonderful is that?  Every thought, feeling, belief, reaction is your own.  Celebrate that!  Embrace it. 

Stop labeling others.  What if we had no idea what religion, political affiliation, marital or sexual orientation our friends were?  What if we went by how much love and compassion they had in their hearts and showed to us and the world?  What if we look to how they treated people instead of what label they wore?  What if there were no labels, just love?  Oh how our world would open up and how rich our lives would be!

Imagine, if we would all – Choose Love.