Audio Assist Version
We live in a world that craves simplicity, where people are desperate to slap labels on everything and everyone. Conservative. Liberal. Victim. Villain. Hero. These labels are supposed to make things easier to understand, but in reality, they do the opposite. They flatten the complexity of who we are, reducing us to single, shallow definitions. I know this firsthand because I’ve lived under so many labels—some I’ve chosen and some that were forced upon me.
As someone often called controversial, I’ve spent much of my life trying to navigate the friction between how others see me and who I know myself to be. I’m more than a collection of traits or a series of choices, and so are you. We’re not static, one-dimensional beings. We’re messy, evolving, and contradictory. And yet, society insists on forcing us into neat little boxes that can never contain the fullness of who we are.
The problem with labels is that they strip away nuance. They don’t leave room for growth or for the complicated truths that define us. Labels like “good” or “bad” can’t capture the way we all live somewhere in between. And when we accept these labels—when we let them define us or others—we lose sight of the humanity that connects us.
Take the idea of being “controversial.” It’s a label I’ve carried for years, and it’s been used as a shorthand to dismiss me. But what does it even mean? That I speak my mind? That I challenge the status quo? That I make people uncomfortable by asking hard questions? I’ve come to see that being controversial isn’t a flaw; it’s a reflection of my refusal to conform, to play it safe, to prioritize being liked over being true to myself.
And yet, even I’m guilty of leaning into labels when it feels convenient. It’s easier to label someone than to try to understand them. It’s easier to write someone off as a certain type of person than to grapple with the full scope of their experiences and contradictions. But the easy path is rarely the right one. If we want to build real connections, real understanding, we have to be willing to let go of labels and embrace complexity.
This isn’t easy. Complexity requires work. It requires empathy, curiosity, and a willingness to sit with uncertainty. It requires seeing people for who they are, not just who we expect them to be. And perhaps hardest of all, it requires us to reject the labels we place on ourselves—the ones that limit us, that hold us back, that tell us who we’re “supposed” to be.
So if there’s one thing I hope you take away from this, it’s this: Labels don’t fit. They never have. The world is complicated, and so are we. Let’s stop trying to simplify the unsimplifiable. Let’s embrace the messy, beautiful truth that we are all more than what meets the eye. In doing so, we might just find the understanding and connection we’ve been searching for all along.