Have you ever noticed how prone we women are to "labels"? No... not the designer kind that turn an ordinary scarf into a R7 500 pashmina, I mean the labels by which we define ourselves. I'm sure that men do this to a lesser degree, but the more I think about it, the more I realise that women seem unable to define themselves without one.
Think about it. You introduce yourself at a dinner party... I'm *insert name here*, so-and-so's best friend, school chum, work colleague, ex sister-in-law, etc, etc. You refer to your friends by their titles / positions in your life. You feel bereft if you find yourself suddenly 'title-less'. Let us examine a few examples...
You quit your job. Suddenly you find yourself unsure of how to describe yourself to people. Hi, I'm Jo, I'm a Publicist. Hmmmm, suddenly, you're just Jo - unemployed. It doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it? You break up with a boy / girlfriend and suddenly you're not half of something anymore. You're not secure in the knowledge that you're part of a couple and suddenly you find yourself 'undefined'.
How stupid is that? Why is it that we can't simply define ourselves AS ourselves? Why do we feel safer, happier, more empowered when we have a tag that we can add to our names? Why do we feel somehow 'less' than we are when we lose something that is essentially just a collection of words?
All I know is that I am going to keep trying to be content with being defined as ME. I'm not going to rely on labels like "best friend", "girlfriend", "career girl", "homemaker", etc etc etc to make me happy.
Who knows, I may even succeed one day!
Until next time,
Jo
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