Pigeonholes and labels
Iâve always hated labels. I donât want them for myself and I refuse to apply them to others (whenever possible). I dislike pigeonholes, stereotypes, shoeboxes; call them what you will the idea of defining anyone, let alone myself, as âexactly thisâ, or âjust thatâ is abhorrent. But...Â
Other people seem to like them and use them a lot, which makes you on the outside of a lot of stuff. It makes finding your tribe hard. And no, I donât just want to be part of Group A, Gang B; Iâm no much of a joiner either. Iâm using tribe very loosely here. But if you post about a topic that interests me I want to feel like I can be part of the discussion.Â
You put a tag on that itâs for this particular bunch of people then Iâm immediately excluded if I donât self-label that way. Why would you want to do that? Why arenât you interested in what other people who are interested have to say? I get that maybe the idea is to focus attention on people with a shared experience. Especially if that groupâs taken a lot of flak from âoutsidersâ. But by making yourselves and others... well, âotherâ, arenât you making it worse?Â
In over sixty years the only label Iâve ever really taken to myself is âmassive introvertâ and even thatâs just because sometimes I feel a need to explain my responses and itâs the simplest way that other people get. I donât really think my brain is that easy to categorise, but when I was younger it was the only label in common parlance and it is still easily understood. But I watch other friends who use the same tag and they do many things Iâm not comfortable with and behave in ways I never could... so even if weâre both right, itâs such a broad group that doesnât really tell us as much as we think.Â
Do you have a label that works for you? Are you more comfortable in a box? Maybe if I understood that point of view my own would gain some clarity.Â
