Escape the labels

People being people, will always judge every area of your life and stamp labels on you. Based on a quick decision they'll label you with a title, sometimes permanently. 

 

The classic question 'What do you do for living?' Is just one way people try to base all their judgements on who you are. How does my occupation define me as a person? Can a plumber not be the cleanest soul and a prisoner not be a monk? 

In the market I occasionally get mums asking me about my background, and they usually start with- 

You should have finished your studies! Well, I did! 

You should have gone to college then. I did that too. 

What about university? I got that too!

How comes you're in the market then? 

Because this is what I'm passionate about. It helps me do X Y and Z. 

They always have a look on their face as if they just found the dumbest person on earth. But that is just one way people judge the status quo of someone. This is one of the main contributing factors of parents nudging their kids to go into a profession which sounds good (Doctors, lawyers etc). 

I remember a particular speech I gave at Toastmaster, I tried something new and different. After the speech one of my buddy who I greatly admire came to me and said 'what happened!' you can do so much better'. I thought about that for a moment and then I said to myself, it's fine if he doesn't understand why I did that speech. To me it's not always about raising my standard. Sometimes we all need to step outside our comfort zone and try new things. 

The main thing is that we should try and focus our attention of the purpose we're willing to serve, whether you're studying art or have a passion no one knows about, eventually you'll bring it out in the open and people will start placing stickers on you. That will always happen. What is more important though is that you stick to the path you laid out, focus and continue down the road in which you started. If you let the labels get to you, you'll always leave your strings in someone else's hands.  

Label are good for packaging and things that are man made, but we are a gift of the creator that came with no instruction.

Can you relate to this one? Have you let your fears stop you from reaching a particular goal? or are you someone who doesn't care about what others think? Let me know in the comments below. 

Peace!

Gagan