What unuseful labels are you carrying around?

As a new father, I’ve noticed how quick people (myself included) are to create lasting narratives that they believe describe my son (he’s seven months old).

"Oh, he’s cheeky."

"He’s inquisitive."

"He’s grumpy in the evening."

But the thing is, in truth nothing he’s done and (nobody he has been) has lasted more than a few weeks. Any time I think I ‘know’ him, he evolves into something new. “He wakes up at 8:30am” I’ve been saying… yeah, not this week!

Humans love lasting narratives. We love labels that make things easy to understand and predict. We even apply such labels to other people, so that we can tell ourselves we know who they are. And… we apply these labels to ourselves.

What narratives are you subscribing to that might not actually describe who you are? What labels are you wearing that might not be accurate?

Who could you be if you could let them go?