Drop the labels; Feel the freedom!

Once I was teaching a course for 8 – 13 year olds and a couple of boys were very restless. I asked them jokingly, “Can’t you guys sit in one place?” Promptly one of them answered, “We are hyper kids. We cannot sit.”

I was taken aback by their response. I realized the boys had accepted the labels given to them and were behaving to fit themselves to that label. In that course, I spent the rest of the course talking to them to drop the label they carried; they were not hyper and were very happy to be sitting still and listening. In fact, they encouraged their friends to sit straight through the class.

We all walk with labels on our forehead. We use them very cleverly to continue our behavior patterns, even though they are not serving us. Growing up, I was always referred to as “Dhurvasa” (a saint known for his temper) since I got angry very easily. I did not enjoy the label that was put on me,

Labels are very stifling. Whether we realize or not, it affects the self-esteem of the child. Positive or negative, labels stop us from exploring new things in our life. We short-change ourselves not giving our 100% because of the label. As we grow up, we make all the effort to live by the label because we don’t know how to drop it.

We label people based on the qualities that they exhibit, but all qualities have both positives and negatives. It is we who judge what is positive and what is negative based on our limited experience. Negative labels affect self-esteem and positive labels create fear of not living up to the label.

When my daughter was a small girl, she was confident and was not afraid to take charge. Every teacher she had would call her a “bossy” girl. No one bothered to see that it has a positive side too. She exhibited a lot of great leadership qualities, but she just needed to be molded. I thank the people who chose to see the “leader” side of her and guided her to become a leader.

Dropping labels is freedom. Be Free and let others be free.