Don’t label yourself or others

People will try to label you. Don’t make it easy for them. Don't put labels on yourself.

Don’t label yourself or others.

“People will try to label you. Don’t make it easy for them. Don't put labels on yourself.”

A gay friend gave me that advice about 30 years ago and it has stuck with me.

Now, you could say that to mention that my friend was gay is of course to label them. But I swear to you that this minor detail was irrelevant to the discussion we were having at the time. I only mention it because it’s relevant to what I’m trying to say right now.

People go to great lengths to label you.

They will exhaust themselves trying to figure out what box to shove you in.

They don’t do it for your benefit. They do it because it makes you easier to deal with. They do it to simplify their world.

We weren’t even talking about sex. At least not to begin with. We were having a broader discussion about the ways that people try to pigeonhole you. …