Labels: GGKT #4

This is for Eco's Good Goth Keeping Tip #4.

We deal with labels every day, most of us.  Some labels are thrown upon us by others, some are self-inflicted.  Some labels are cheery, healthful even.  The others...not so much.  It's great when the labels are positive:  kind, beautiful, helpful, loyal, responsible.  But as the labels drift toward the unpleasant they become a burden, especially if they come from external sources.  Fat, ugly, useless, lazy, stupid--and those are only a small sampling of labels I've heaped on myself over the years.

I have labels that I'm proud of, too.  Wife, mother, grandmother; hard worker, flexible, dedicated.  Cancer survivor is one I wish I didn't have, but things happen.  I'm pleased to be a Dr. Who fan and a Star Trek fan, as well as being a gearhead.  I lean toward the Goth side of life, yet I don't feel dark enough to  call myself such.

As we age mature most of us (maybe only some of us) learn to discard the negative.  Well, I don't know if discard is the right word.  Perhaps it's more a case of simply learning to live with the negative aspects, or even to ignore them and focus on the positive labels.  So what is my favorite label?  Tough question...but I think it would have to be mother.  Not only the biological creator of my daughter, but a caregiver to as many people as I can look after.  Mother: to attend, consider, foster, keep an eye on, mind, minister, nurse, nurture, protect, provide for, take pains, tend, treasure, watch over.