BRAVERY 52 | List 33

LIST 33 | List the labels people have given you and the ways they have tried to box you in.

Over my lifetime, I’ve been called a number of things, some nice and some not so nice. Upon reflection, I was all of those things. I’m still some of those labels, the good and the bad. In the end, all of it made me who I am. In certain phases, I may have felt boxed in, certainly when I was younger.

Once I embraced the simple yet tough concept that what people think of me - label me - is none of my business, I discovered self-acceptance and authenticity. We are all made of good and bad and I’ve made my peace with all of it. The only box is the one I make for myself.

I wrote out a list of what some of those labels might be, but they were far too many (and nothing too terribly interesting or different from anyone else). It’s how I’ve chosen to be all of those things - how we all choose to live our labels - that make us who we are.