This is a second article in a series exploring the dangers of labelling people (whether ourselves or others).
In the first article we explored how labelling starts young, shared some examples of labels and looked at how damaging labels can be—whether ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. And your homework was to identify up to 10 of your own labels (ideally at least 3-5 labels to work with).
So if you haven’t read the first article yet, I recommend reading it now Names Do Hurt: How Your “Labels” Might Be Limiting You! and identifying those 3-5 labels to use with the journaling prompts below.
A quick look at a less well-known issue with labels
In these busy times, it’s worth noting that our labels can also make more work for us.
How? Well, labels can mean that other people can avoid work or self-growth—at your expense. For example:
As “The Office Mom” you may get trapped into organizing every leaving/birthday/retirement card, whip-round and gift, team celebrations, even cleaning the office break room. No-one else needs to step up, because they know the “Office Mom” will do it. Called emotional labour—it’s unpaid and usually under-appreciated too.
As “The Disciplinarian” with your kids, you may get trapped in the role of ‘laying down the law’. This means you have extra tasks to do, and your partner doesn’t need to learn these skills for themselves. And it could also impact your relationship with your children as you take on a disproportionate amount of the difficult conversations.