Dear Labels,

You have such a hold on me that makes it so hard to really define our relationship. I have lived with some labels for so long that I can't remember a life before them. I'm Vietnamese. I'm a daughter. I'm a sister. I'm a student. I'm a musician. I have an anxiety disorder. I'm a baker. I'm an artist. I'm a Californian. I'm a liberal.... etc.

I've had issues with my labels plenty of times in my life. There are times when my labels have made me hate who I am. Sometimes it was because I didn't live up to my labels as well as I believed I should have. Like for example, the idea that being Asian meant I had to be a good student. When I couldn't fulfill the grades I believed I needed to fill my label, it made me hate myself and work myself to death in order to be that label.

There are days when I still can't stand the fact that my labels hold me back in society. For reasons like, I'm a woman, or Asian, or young, or liberal. There are things I will never be able to experience or get to do because of my labels. I might not be able to do things either because society dictates it or I internalize the idea that my labels stop me.

But on the opposite side, my labels let me do many things. My labels also let me experience things that no one could feel or see or do. My labels help set the guideline for my future. Sometimes my labels even help give me goals for the future. So... what can I say about you my labels?

I can't say right now whether I love you or I hate you because life changes just as I change. My labels will grow with me and in the future I will shed labels that I have now. I might not be a student, or a Californian or a musician. But maybe I'll be a singer, an Oregonian, a doctor. I might replace labels or add new ones.

And although that is terrfiying to think about in every aspect of the word... I'm somewhat okay with that. I believe that every label is another chapter to the book that makes up my life. Sometimes you move past one chapter and move onto the next. Does that make the first chapter any less valid or important? I don't think so and neither should anyone else.

I think my real message to you, my labels, is that I accept you. I accept that my labels are who I am but I also believe that I am not just my labels. I am not just someone who is Vietnamese, or just a woman, or someone with a mental illness, or someone who's in college etc. I accept my labels so that I may beat the obstacles they may place on me. I accept my labels so that I may rise above the expectations others place on me because of my labels.

Love,

Me, labels and all.