I love jars. All shapes, all sizes.
Maybe it’s my depression-era grandmother living through me but I save them. Alllll of them (much to my partner’s chagrin). So I’m a pro at removing sticky, hard to remove labels from jars. The paper ones, the plastic-y ones. I can even remove those heat set letters that seem impossible (vinegar soak, in case you’re wondering).
The labels that I still have trouble with are the labels I put on myself.
The internal ones… “I’m not a _____ kind of person”, I can’t do _____ very well”.
Is it self awareness? Or is it a sticky label I’ve just stuck on myself?
When taking off labels… most of them require a soak. This loosens things up a bit, but to really get off the adhesive, there’s a little scrub involved.
When trying to explain the work that I do, I find that to explain it to people I’m required to put a label on it. I have to slap a sticker on it that makes it easy to understand the product inside. The name, the benefits, the ingredient list. And the mouth-watering delicious, full-belly transformation that you, dear hungry reader, will feel on the other side of what I have canned for you.
But I wonder… why am I doing that? Am I the best person to be labeling this? fAm I putting a label on it to convince you that this is worth your time and effort? Am I making promises to you so that I can feel proud sitting on a shelf next to other products on the shelf?
For me, it’s hard to put a label on what I do. It’s hard to explain because it’s not like the other things on the shelf. I know because I’ve tried, like, #allthethings. It’s hard for ME to explain. Because I still have all the sticky-icky adhesive stuck on there from past labels I have put on them.
What would happen if I removed the labels I have placed on myself and my work…
“Not good enough”, “Not confident enough”, Not worthy enough”? What might my life look like if I removed those labels that I place on myself and the things I produce?
What if I put them out and let other people try them? What if I let my things stand on a shelf– boldly. Proudly. Let them speak for themselves instead of trying to figure out a label from my limited vocabulary and old stories?
What if I stood quietly by a table with samples? Let the people taste and try… see what they say? What if, just what if… it’s the tastiest thing they’ve had in a long time… and I missed out on knowing that because I was trying to label it myself?
What if I removed my own labels?
