Let me start off this post by stating that I am not a writer in any way, shape or form. I have no extensive education in the art of writing and am typing purely from the heart, with the thoughts that form in my head being typed onto this blog post today. See end of post for more details in regards to this topic and I thank those who have taken the time to read this. I also thank those who are willing to participate in this project and have spent much time discussing it with me.

This is a topic that I have been pondering for a while now and I'm not sure what inspired the original thought but it's simmered here since last summer and now it's time to put words to screen and put my thoughts to action. I am using the word "labels" which I think stems from the background I have with fashion and can translate to this story - there are other words which I could use, such as "titles" or "definitions"  or even "descriptives" but for the sake of consistency, I'll use the word "labels" and hopefully I'll be forgiven for that.

Labels start the moment we are born. From the little band that is carefully placed on our tiny wrists to identify our gender and who we belong to. We are immediately born with the label "male" or "female" and from our first breath, are labeled daughter, son, granddaughter, sibling, nephew and so on. And of course whether it be truth or a lie, we get cute and adorable as labels from that moment, even if we are just shriveled little crying prunes. At that stage, we are not formed as anything other than a baby.

Time moves on and as we start to develop our personalities and grow into our skin, we start getting labels from others around us - from our family and their friends and the people our parents meet. Cute is always the predominant label through the first year since we are yet to reveal who we are but we may get ones like fussy, good, quiet, peaceful, playful - all depending on how our behavior reveals itself and how we are perceived from that. It's not so bad, we are still protected by the shroud of youth and for a blissful time, we are just allowed to be our truest selves.

Then as we get older and into the walking, talking part of life, we start to form stronger personalities, we start to react to the environment we are in and adapt to the lives we are born into. We of course have the labels of our gender, our looks, our religion and race by that point and as our world grows bigger, the more labels we start to get. Serious, silly, pretty, ugly, funny, smart, stupid - all labels given to us by others to describe who we are. Whether we like it or not, we are given these to help others make sense of who we are.

Childhood through to teen years are such important years for us as we expose ourselves to the universe and as we are around more people, we are given more labels - many times by our peers but this too is when we start giving ourselves labels. As we expand our thoughts and start to look inward to ourselves, we may label ourselves according to our behavior, our looks and our personalities. Sometimes they are good labels, sometimes not so good and are at times, influenced by how others see us. Fat, thin, beautiful, ugly, intelligent, stupid, dreamer, witty, studious, cheeky, trouble maker, rebellious. More labels.

Fast forward now to adulthood and we gain labels according to our relationships, our social status, our employment, our behavior and our views. By this time, we have jobs, we've formed our lives according to our labels and our environment. How we live is how we are perceived and as we get older, some of the labels we are given or have given ourselves become a burden. Sometimes those labels start to wear on us and become something we no longer celebrate or want. For some, it's a case of having a gender label that no longer feels right. For others, its a label in reference to sexuality that no longer fits. As we delve into thought, we may want to shuck our religious labels for various reasons and with race, we may find many labels given to us to be offensive and hurtful.

So how do we deal with all this? How to change and adapt the labels we are given or give ourselves? For many of us, we embrace the labels we are given, especially the labels that paint us in a flattering light. But what to do with those labels that are less than desirable? Do we want to hang onto all the labels that define us? And are we as capable of not labeling others? Why do we label others?

I ask these questions without knowing answers. In some ways, we can change our labels by adjusting our lifestyle choices and embracing the reality of who we are. And there is no shame whatsoever in being proud of some of the labels that we've carried our whole lives whether it be based on our skin color, our religion, our relationships or our personal behavior.

But can we stop labeling others? In the day and age of the internet, we have immediate access to a huge world around us and are exposed to so much. And can immediately connect to people across the globe, people who are strangers, people who we label upon sight because we want to try and make sense of them and place them into a category that suits our mindset. We respond visually to words and images and our first instinct is to label a person - because we can. I see words being placed upon random strangers because of their looks, their political beliefs, their sexuality, their religion, their race. And those words, those labels are usually thrown around in a negative manner. I see grown adults - people I personally know, use labels to insult others and I wonder why.

Is it because they are scared of what they don't understand? Is it because they want to feel superior? Is it because they are incapable of understanding the labels that don't match theirs?

Again, questions without answers.

And before I continue here, I am not going to let myself sit here and judge those who label others because I am just as guilty of it as the next person. We all are. We all want to find a label or definition for others to tidy the box so to speak. We use labels as a reactionary measure. But I wonder, I truly do wonder, what if we started to take away labels? What if we stopped using labels to describe ourselves or others? Even if we just took away some, would it help unify us more as a society or cause chaos?

So I look into myself and ask myself what labels I'd like to adjust within myself. The ones I've been given or given myself over 44 years. Labels I've carried through life based on my personality, my background, my relationships and my appearance. I'm proud to be called wife, I'm proud to be called creative, I'm proud to be called funny, I'm proud to be daughter. I've been labeled fat - am I proud of that? No! Can I change it? Yes. I've been labeled feral because of my upbringing. Do I like that label? No I do not. Can I change that? No. It's how someone else has perceived me from an upbringing that I cannot change. I struggle with political labels personally since I don't wish to identify with any political party and as someone raised without religion, I don't identify with any of the religious labels.

I sit here and type this and my dogs come to see what I am doing. I hate to label myself as "owner" of these dogs since I don't feel like I own them any more than they own me. Yet I know many would dispute me using the label of "mother" since I didn't obviously give birth to these two creatures who have hearts and breathe the same air I do. But I love them with every ounce of my being so I will stand and use the label "mother" because how else can I label myself? Ultimately when I sort through all my personal labels, I am just me. I am me.

There is no conclusion here and I wish I could make sense of my own thoughts sometimes. As much as I wish we could stop labeling ourselves and others, I see no end to it. If we don't consider the matter, we will continue using labels to define and insult instead of trying to grasp the bigger picture of other human beings. Which takes us to the label of "narrow minded" which is a label I certainly don't wish to personally have. So in my head, I will quietly peel back the labels I place on others and myself because ultimately when we peel back the labels, what is underneath?

Flesh and blood. Conscious thought, DNA, hearts that beat until they no longer beat. No matter how many labels we have in life - black, white, straight, gay, religious, atheist, smart, stupid, male, female, son, daughter, republican, democratic, creative, intelligent and so on, we are united in breath, united by death. The inescapable end that that comes to us all no matter what label we have.

And for now, thats all. The end.

Footnote - I have opted to work on this subject as part of a creative personal experiment and will continue to do so with a series of videos and photos. There is no merit points, no timeline, no guiding force other than a need to create thought and expand my own level of growth as a person. If you are interested in seeing the videos, please feel free to follow me on Instagram or my business page on Facebook under Riley Street Vintage Photography.