...Labels...

Are YOU guilty of this?  Do you quietly judge and label people?  We all know that "you can't judge a book by it's cover", yet we still do it.  We've all probably been misjudged at one time or another ourselves and felt the sting, disappointment, and frustration that goes along with that, yet we do it to others.  We think that our own experiences make us experts on how people are and how things should be.  And when we do this...we are WRONG.

Don't assume people that are overweight are lazy.  Don't assume that people that are thin are full of themselves.  Don't assume that fat people are miserable and skinny people are happy.  Don't confuse the size of clothing that someone may wear with their level of confidence.  Don't think that because a woman is thin and beautiful that there's not more substance to her.  Don't label a woman that may not be as classicly beautiful and thin as being insecure or careless about her appearance.

Simply put, we are all different.  I have long blonde hair and big boobs.  I wear a bikini to the beach and I have nice things.  That doesn't make me any worse than anyone else.  Nor does it make people that choose to wear no makeup or cover up a little more better.  From afar, people could make many judgements...and have.  I've been told my whole life that people think I'm stuck up when they first see me.  I've been called bitchy because of the car I drive.  I've been called skinny on days that I looked in the mirror and felt fat.  I have faked confidence at times when I have felt scared and insecure.  People that stick around and don't hold on to labels see past the outside and realize that their original judgements are usually incorrect.

I feel blessed to have had the experience of being overweight.  I've literally lived life on both sides of the spectrum.  It creates an awareness in me that not everyone gets to experience.  I know firsthand that being overweight does NOT mean you are lazy or don't care about how you look.  It doesn't mean that you are passive.  I've been very thin...much thinner than I am now...and so I also know firsthand that being thin is not an automatic ticket to happiness and confidence.  Being thin does NOT mean that you don't eat or that you think you are better than others or that you are bitchy and superficial.

We need to stop taking sides.  There's no "us against them"...no fat vs skinny!  We are all people and that has NOTHING to do with size either way.  We need to throw away the labels and misconceptions.  We need to realize that many times our judgements come from a place of insecurity within ourselves.  The next time you see someone different than you, lose the urge to label them and be strong and secure enough in yourself to get to know them first.