Self-Awareness: Overcoming Labels (A Journal Entry)

You weren't lost.
You noticed things – little things most people missed.
You heard more than they realised.
You felt things differently, deeply, even when you couldn’t quite explain how or why.

Then there were the labels:
“Stubborn”
“Intense.”
“Too slow.”
“Speed up.”

But you were doing you – what you could only do.
Figuring things out, at your own pace, in isolation, quietly, slowly.
Getting through.

You were constantly shaping yourself in ways that made things easier, to fit in– for them. You had no choice.
You were constantly learning how to move differently,
you're still learning, it's not easy.

Then, later –
came two names
And suddenly all your struggles made sense.

Nothing dramatic happened.
You didn’t become someone else.
But something in you eased.
Like, oh. Okay. That’s why.

And no, it was never your fault.

So now?
You’re learning to let go of all that pressure.
To stop berating yourself for not doing better.
To move how you move,
to think how you think,
to be who you are – without a disclaimer.

Now you get it.
And that’s something to be acknowledged.

If my journal resonates with you today, you too can overcome your 'labels'.

– Ilana Estelle