Human Labeling

Human labeling. Have you ever noticed the human desire to label things?

We label objects, such as trees, dogs, or the sky. We label each other too by dictating certain traits.

Have you ever heard that quote, “We have every trait within us, some are just more prominent depending on the person and their situation” ?

One day, I was taking a jaunt through Park Slope, Brooklyn after slaving away on the stair master at my new, overpriced gym, by Prospect Park. As per usual, my mind began to wander. This time, to the prospect of labeling. It’s so normal and instinctive. We hardly ever examine it. I believe problems and normative, confirmative thinking arise when we refrain from examining the ways we think—when we let our conscious filter take a backseat. 

So, I realized I needed to rethink this habit.

I label others (who doesn’t?), sure, but I also label myself. As we know: everyone holds a different perception of the same exact person based on their individual background, morals, and traits. However, once we label someone, it’s hard for them to change in our eyes because we’re all-knowing and complicated but everyone else is simple, right? Unless we love them, of course. 

What happens when we’re told or believe we’re a certain thing so many times? 

We become limited. Jailed by lock and key in a box of our beliefs. 

On this walk, on a wintery and wet February day, I decided to be label-less. Too often, I’d get confused trying to label myself! How silly and ignorant is that? To be limited, at the foundation of it, by your own thoughts—your own perception of yourself?

Dumb. 

Why should I either be goal-oriented and ambitious or lazy and aimless? I am both at any point in my life, and that’s okay because it doesn’t define me. My lazy days allow me to recharge, so I can come to the race ready to win. My aimless moments remind me of my humanity; I’m not a sheep who follows the designated path. I’m also ever evolving and changing and reevaluating previously held beliefs on life.

I like to think of a label-less life as living like water. Personifying its fluidity, adaptability, acceptance, and transformative states.

Labeling is easy. It gives you a direction, and it’s easier to understand. However, when you’re okay with encapsulating all the labels, depending on your state of being, then there is no box. 

Another harsh truth: you’ve probably been labeled all the traits by all the people you’ve met throughout your lifetime—strangers and confidants. Why not accept that you’re everything, unrestrained by manmade language, and live more freely?

Time to write: 23 min