Becoming vs. Being
Mar 27, 2025
When rock climbing, it is important that you continue to move. If you try to hold yourself in one spot, you are guaranteeing that you will fall. Your legs will start to shake, your body will tire, and you’ll fall without giving yourself the chance to make it further up.
In this life, it is important that we continue to move. We are creatures of progress that are always either progressing or regressing. It is in our nature to grow and change. We are meant to become.
The Danger of Labels
“What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon.”
~ Siouxsie Sioux
The labels we give ourselves imply a state of being.
“I am an entrepreneur. I am an author. I am an athlete.”
Each label attempts to hold us stagnant and fails to capture our infinite potential. Every label, no matter how empowering or flattering, puts pressure on us to maintain a state of being and attaches some part of our worth to that state of being.
It’s like trying to hold ourselves on a cliffside. It’s like mummification that holds us in and prevents our souls from expanding.
Some labels are more harmful than others.
“I’m a failure. I’m an embarrassment. I’m a delinquent.”
These negative labels try to convince us that our identity has been tainted and our worth smudged. The truth is that we are ever-evolving creatures that cannot be still. No matter what your labels lead you to believe, they cannot take away your potential.
We are not meant to be. We are meant to become.
The Freedom of Becoming
“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”
~ Anna Quindlen
You are either progressing or digressing. You're either going up, or you're going down. One of the two. The idea that we can just lock ourselves in a place or time is a restricting illusion.
Removing the labels that pressure us to maintain one state opens us up to possibility and separates our worth from the limits of labels. We are free to grow, evolve, and become anything. We are under no obligation to stay in one place or to be one thing. You always have the potential to become. Don’t let labels hold you back.
To begin your journey to authenticity, try out our self-paced emotional intelligence courses.
Related Articles:
