Labels are for products not humans

Someone wise beyond his years once told me, "you create your own image."

It sounded cold, sharp, and cutting at the time. To put the comment in context, I had been wheeling around in a wheelchair at a store that we were inventorying (I work for a stock taking company.) The manager running the inventory chewed me out kindly and weeks later, at another inventory, I found out that he was to be our new boss because our district was merging with his. I turned to my wise friend and said sheepishly, "so much for first impressions" in which case he responded with the aforementioned statement.

It's true I believe. This may sound existentialistic (a philosophy I love to hate), but we have choices. We can act against our impulses. We can reframe our minds. We can learn new coping strategies. We don't have to always play the victim card. We don't have to conform. You can give up, surrender to the labels society gives you, and succumb to self-fulfilling prophecies.

But I refuse.

If I don't want to be shy, then I don't have to call myself shy anymore. I can work to be outgoing.

Likewise, I think I'm done accepting and labeling myself as someone who is depressed.

I don't have to be.

I can be happy.

And I will be.

Fuck labels!