"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." - Marilyn Monroe
I don't know about your school, but at ours, yearbooks are a BIG deal. Everyone loves to see how many times their picture got in, and they really love to guess what the theme will be, even though it's usually pretty silly. This year, the theme was "Labeled," and the cover was filled with all the things our student body can be labeled as. They were all nice things - outgoing, athletic, memorable - but it made me think: Are labels ever really a good thing?
We label people for convenience, like "Carrie, she's smart, she can help me with my math homework," or "Adrienne is a cheerleader, so she must know everyone at school." Athlete. Blonde. Nerd. Whatever. Especially when we're younger, and our world seems a little crazy, it makes things easier to just categorize people and not think about it.
Some labels are supposed to be positive, like the ones on our yearbooks, but there's a problem: they don't leave room for change. Sure, maybe today you are the shy, smart girl in the back of the class, but maybe tomorrow you want to be something different. Some will welcome the change, but people who are stuck on labels will miss it. Either way it doesn't really matter. It's like my friend J-Lo said: "You know who you are. Focus on that. Other people will see that eventually." It doesn't matter where you end up in the yearbook - how you see yourself is so much more important.
You, Fab Gal, are not a can of soup. You don't need to be labeled. Don't live up to someone's expectations - live up to your own. Don't be something - be yourself. Live above the labels and leave room for change.
How have you been labeled, FG? Do you put labels on other people? Are they really a bad thing? Leave a comment to let me know what you think. xoxo
The Fab Gal
FG Update:The Fab Gal will very soon be moving to a new home - http://thefabgal.com/. Perfect for us, right? Keep checking back, more updates to come!
