On Being Given a Name

 Labels can be quite interesting, in the sense that they can confer a particular status on a person which is either earned or not earned. I have many times felt "shocked" or surprised to be labeled or thought of in a certain way, only to find myself later wondering, is it the act of labeling itself which is a shock, or is it the surprise at the label itself?
   I suppose that a lot of this depends on one's attitude toward the name or label. If I think that labels define who I am (whether they are coming from me or someone else) then I am bound to feel somewhat limited by the label itself. If on the other hand I see the label as just a new way of looking at something I never thought about before (or something to ponder), then that very same label is less restrictive and predefining of me. However, I feel it's important to be able to reflect on where the reaction is coming from---that is, what the motive is of the reaction itself.
  Quite often, for instance, it's not the labeling process that hurts a person so much as the kind of label one gets, and to what extent it might not resonate with the subconscious labels one might give themselves. It can work in another way too. Suppose, for instance, I am given the label of "genius", when throughout my life, I have labelled myself as stupid or somehow mentally incapable in some way or another. That label of "genius" can be emotionally moving or empowering, because it frames me in a way that might inspire me to feel confident and having more to offer to the world than I had ever imagined previously. But of course, if the label doesn't reflect what could actually happen, then it might prove counterproductive. The point is that it's not being given a label that's limiting so much as the conflict one has between a description of themselves which (perhaps) they don't recognize, and their felt experience or sense of who they are.
    I also think that being labeled in a narrow sense can also be mysteriously liberating. If a person has too many ill-defined expectations of themselves and they are given a label that more accurately reflects their passions and aspirations, then this process of labeling can re-align that person's emotional energies. In that sense, labeling might not be all that bad. On the other hand, taking one's labels "literally" is always going to be a bit problematic, because we can never define all our possibilities through one or two words.