Labels and Laziness

It’s really just out of laziness, why people reduce things and people to labels.

Sometimes, they’re helpful, and a lot of times, they’re not.

Labeling reduces things. It has this ability to place an object into a box, a category in our minds, and keep it there, so that we don’t have to do the mental work of shifting our preconceptions. As a result, we reduce the quality and potential of the object or person in front of us completely. What we see instead is a name, and our own mental constructs.

When I don’t label anyone or anything, (or at least try not to), I can see a little more clearly. More expansively. I’m able to pick up on tiny details, to actually sense the things in my surroundings and dive deeper into life.

Labeling is like slapping a bumper sticker onto things. It reduces what’s right in front of us. It easy.

Not labeling is like opening up another part of life. It’s expansive. And it’s really, really hard.