In our society we have the tendency to put people, including ourselves,  into boxes – socially constructed boxes or categories. This causes much confusion when someone cannot be molded into one of these boxes.

We often see things in terms of “black & white”, “one or the other”, “This or that.”

But the truth is, we are all so unique, a medley made up of various things that we cannot always be succinctly put into “boxes”. We can stuff ourselves and each other into perfect little boxes but the box will overflow, what about the parts of ourselves that can’t be labeled or identified?

For example, I have been told that it’s “wrong” to have mixed children because the kids won’t know “which world they belong to” or what race they really are. According to some, you have to be one race and only one.  People are confused by the whole concept of Bisexuality, believing a person has to be gay or be straight and that’s that.  Some people who strongly identify with one specific political orientation but have one or a few views that are not typically held by their political affiliation are rejected by others in their political group for not being “true” to the political label they mostly identify with.
I read something written by a yoga instructor who was at one point a vegan but fell deathly ill and had to eat certain meat products temporarily to stay alive and she felt an overwhelming sense of confusion about where she stood. Yoga instructors are often believed to be vegans and thin and fit Or they aren’t “true yogis.”

See how this all has so much potential to cause great confusIon and pain? Some people are mixed races, some are bisexual, some have aspects of male & female, some identify with no gender, some yoga instructors are not vegetarians or vegans, some are not thin, some Liberals are pro- life, some Conservatives are pro -choice…

And we can tolerate & accept & love anyway. We don’t have to be shoved into boxes and be all confused when we meet someone who doesn’t quite fit into the box we so desperately attempt to put that person in.  Labels and categorizing are good to a certain extent, we need them sometimes.   But when we use them to the excess, they do more harm than good.
If you do somehow fit perfectly into a box that’s no problem but if not, it’s best not to force yourself. You don’t have to live up to a label or a socially constructed or even a self imposed box or category. There’s no room to be your true self then, no room for growth. Live up to your own standards, morals, virtues, give yourself room to breath, change when you must, evolve and just be.

I’ll just be me and you just be you. And we can let them just be them.

“You do not need anyone’s permission to be your true self.“
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie

“Honor diversity in all seasons.“
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Xoxo  Kim