As you go about your day, if you’re like most people, you likely repeat your label to yourself several times. Unworthy, stupid, fat, not enough, ugly, addict, undeserving, unlovable. Maybe you don’t just repeat one of them but a combination of them. What’s your label?
Then you either try your best to become the opposite of this label or you give in and become that label. SHARE THIS! Either way, it’s self-destructive. You’re either giving in to the label or fighting against the label and never embracing who you are outside of the label.
Your label started because of something someone said to you years ago. They said it again or maybe someone else said it, so you started to own it. This label might have even pushed you, motivated you, so you feel like it’s a good thing. It’s pushing you harder in your career, to make more money, to get the next promotion. It’s motivated you to stay late and get to work early. Yet, now you find yourself still being pushed and motivated for the wrong reasons…not because you ultimately want it, but you’re trying to still prove them wrong. You’re trying to prove to yourself they weren’t right. So yeah you may want it…but you want it only because you want to prove something not because it’s a deep desire within yourself. And this leaves you feeling unfulfilled, unhappy.
Your labels come from your past. They don’t define your future. The longer you carry them with you, the more you’re allowing them to determine your present and your future. TWEET THIS!
Where did the label come from? Why are you buying into its truth? Someone said it to you once or many a thousand times, but what makes it true? You believed it to be true, because you kept hearing it. Yet those words, those labels, were just someone else’s opinion. They weren’t truth. The people who said them were carrying their own labels, their own shame, their own baggage and passing it onto you.
Then you took their opinions about you and owned them and allowed those lies to weasel their way into your mind, into your heart. So now they affect how you show up, how you hold yourself, how you believe in yourself. They affect your conversations, ability to negotiate your salary, closing clients, and building relationships. They bring on second guessing, self-doubt, and limiting beliefs.
It’s time to heal the problem not the symptom (the symptom is the label). Find the source…where did you get the label? Why did you get the label? Why did you believe the label?
Let go of the labels. Stop owning them. Stop fighting them. Stop believing them. Just let them go. Your value is not in the label. That’s worth repeating…your value is not in the label. It’s in who you are and what you’re contributing. SHARE THIS!
Use your label and help someone else with theirs. Use your failures and help someone avoid the same ones. Use your mistakes, flaws, and imperfections to help someone see the beauty in theirs. Stop pushing against your label and stop embracing them. Just let them go and develop a newer, stronger version of you. One who doesn’t pay attention to labels. One who doesn’t need a label. One who doesn’t give away labels to others.
One who is able to stand in his power, own who he is and not embrace anything he isn’t. One who isn’t defined by his past but creating a future not based on what others say or think but solely on who he knows himself to be and who he wants to become. When you’re able to do that, you’ll dispense with the labels, stand in your power, and start seeing yourself a different way. You’ll do all of that with no labels needed.
I want to hear from you. In the comments below, share with me what label you’ve been carrying around.
Jessica Rector’s mission is simple: transform lives. With a BBA, MBA and BS, Jessica started, hosted, and produced her own TV talk show in Los Angeles with just an idea to help others which launched her first company jessICAREctor International. As someone who attempted suicide as a teen, had a lot of self-judgment around being a single parent, and has a brother who died by suicide, Jessica knows challenges, issues, and pain and how to turn them into something good. Through her own experiences, research, and strategies, she helps you break through your inner struggles and free yourself. As a thought leader, keynote speaker, and author, Jessica consults with companies, coaches individuals, and speaks at conferences, conventions, and organizations helping you change what you say to yourself about yourself to change your thoughts and actions to change your life. Jessica is a Contributor for The Huffington Post and The Good Men Project and has been seen on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Business Journal, and Market Watch. Get Jessica’s third book, Breaking the Silence: Taking the Sh out of Shame at jessicarector.com. Follow her on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.
