Labels. Residual beliefs?
At their simplest, labels help us identify things.
They tell us what’s inside a box.
Which folder a file belongs in.
Which shelf something should return to.
Perhaps labels make the world feel easier to understand.
Maybe that’s why we use them with people, too.
Without even realizing it, we begin sorting ourselves—and one another—into simple categories.
Responsible.
Strong.
Reliable.
Successful.
Difficult.
Too much.
Not enough.
The funny thing about labels is that I don’t think we notice when we first begin wearing them.
They arrive quietly.
A careless comment.
A role we stepped into.
A mistake we couldn’t seem to outgrow.
A season that slowly became an identity.
Over time, we stop treating the label as something we experienced…
and begin believing it’s who we are.
We stop saying,
“I made a mistake.”
And quietly begin believing,
“I’m a failure.”
We stop saying,
“I’m exhausted.”
And begin believing,
“I’m just the one who has to carry everything.”
I wonder how often we mistake a chapter for the whole story.
Because people are rarely just one thing.
We can be brave and afraid.
Confident and uncertain.
Hopeful and grieving.
Healing and still hurting.
The more I work with people, the more interested I become in the stories behind the labels we tend to wear across our chests. There are labels we’ve earned and recognize, or labels we’ve been gifted without our noticing, yet we tend to somehow believe the story they tell.
I tend to make this part of my therapy sessions.
Not quick advice.
Not easy answers.
Just enough curiosity to ask,
“How did you come to believe that?”
“What else could be true?”
What if the labels we’ve worn for years begin to loosen not because someone argued them away, but because someone gently wondered if they were the whole story?
I hope that’s true.
Not because every label disappears.
Some were earned.
Some still fit.
Some describe a season we’ll always carry with us.
But others…
Others have simply stayed longer than they were meant to.
Perhaps the invitation isn’t to peel off every label.
Perhaps it’s simply to hold them a little more loosely.
To notice which ones still tell the truth.
And which ones are telling an old story.
Because some labels belong.
Some simply leave residue.
And every once in a while…
Some require reaching for a little Goo Gone.
