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Janie on Labels People make labels for everything inclusionary or exclusionary. People want to label themselves and others, which in social situations can include them in a group and exclude others. There are labels for everything outside of social situations as well. We learn it early with Sesame Street (which one of these things doesn't belong) even before school. It is part of our intellectual development to notice similarities and differences between things, as well as people. While this is normal and natural, merely having the labels does not have to limit us to them, nor separate others from us. We get different labels according to what audience we are addressing or is addressing us. For instance, if you make a living sculpting your body's muscles and competing in bodybuilding contests as a professional bodybuilder, you might call yourself a bodybuilder, yet that is not all you are to the exclusion of everything else, right? You might be a parent, a coach, a blonde, a teacher, a student and more. I would be a raw foodist to most people, a vegan raw foodist to a raw fooder that eats animal products, a natural hygienist to a vegan raw fooder that follows say, macrobiotics, a 811rv'r to a higher fat raw vegan natural hygienist... and the list goes on. I am also considered an artist by those that witness me doing art, an organic farmer to those who knew me when I did that for a living, a computer guru to those I tutor or fix their computers, a mom to my son and his friends, a wife and friend to my hubby... There are many labels I have been called. The key is to not become the label, as the label is not who you are it only attempts to describe some aspect of you, but is not 'you' in reality. We are who we are and the labels used to describe us will change with or without our changes. Heh, labels often limit people's perceptions of each other as well as themselves, but they shouldn't. My hubby and I have run into so many people having a hard time dealing with the fact that we used to be organic farmers, and then were real estate agents, or teachers, or computer experts, as well as many of the other things we have and will do. People who meet us when we are doing something they label us as have trouble imagining that we are knowledgeable or have experience in the other things we did and do. They will always think of us as the label they knew us as first. It's simultaniously frustrating and humoring to us. So, there is no reason to fear a label or seek one, just be yourself (and let that change as it must) and let the labels fall where they may. ;-)
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