Learn To Manage Your Labels

Let’s face it. You’re a walking label. It’s fact! People are labels. Labels are people. Now get over it! And, no, I’m not talking about stereotypes.

Labels are everywhere and attached to everything from clothes, to food, drinks, buildings, and unfortunately to people.  I don’t see it as an unfortunate situation. Yes, there are challenges to how people view us, but we can control our labels. It’s a simple process.

Labels are just another way of how we make sense out of people, places and things. Often, it’s easier to separate people into categories in order to understand groups, thus our first label. More often than not, when looking at groups, people are associated with and wear additional labels because of sex, religion, color, etc. One must then take time to look at the individual, too. Thus even more labels to attach, which are based on a number of different other factors: character, attitude, etc.

We can all agree the labels that concern us the most are through association and affiliation: Republican vs. Democrat, straight vs. gay, etc. This is why so many people rant, rave and say, "Don’t label me!" In actuality, people have labeled themselves, people calling it as they see it. The situation becomes exacerbated when individuals, especially the young and immature, add a layer of drama to an already unmanageable overload of labels.

Separating yourself from the pact doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a label decrease, but it can minimize the damage caused to your self-esteem, ego and character. It can make all the difference in the world when you decide to settle down and focus on finding a spouse or when looking for a job. Not being able to manage one’s labels, for some, can be lethal.
The best way to manage your labels is by knowing thyself.  Look in the mirror and be real with yourself. There are labels you can’t escape: sex, race, etc. However, there are labels we are free to change, depending on the circumstances: conservative vs. sloppy, polished vs. vulgar, nice vs. mean, etc.

Without a doubt, labels can be harmful. For those who are anti-label, try seeing how awkward it is to communicate without them at all. It would be challenging. You wouldn’t be able to call any furry thing a "dog" because it’s too constricting (after all, maybe it might like to meow once in a while)

I think the key with using labels is not to avoid them, but to take care in applying and interpreting them. And if you really insist on not being labeled, that’s OK. We can always call you by whistling instead. - paerki