I didn’t even realize how many labels I was carrying until I tried to set them down.
We all carry labels.
Every single one of us.
Some of them are obvious.
Mother. Wife. Entrepreneur. Sister. Daughter. Christian. Liberal. Conservative. Strong. Independent.
Those are the labels the world often demands.
But I think the ones that shape us the most are the ones no one else can see.
The ones we picked up quietly.
The ones we didn’t choose.
The ones we don’t even realize we’re carrying.
The Labels That Go Deeper
What about the labels we picked up in childhood?
Unworthy.
Broken.
Too much.
Unseen.
Unvalued.
Sometimes no one sat us down and intentionally labeled us. Sometimes it was a comment that stuck. A look. A pattern. A relationship. A moment we didn’t know how to process at the time.
And somehow, those words followed us into adulthood.
We start defining ourselves by them.
We live from them.
We make decisions through them.
And we don’t even realize the weight we’re carrying.
The Power of the Mind (This Part Matters)
Our minds are incredibly powerful. The words we speak over ourselves matter. The words we believe matter even more.
Scripture says, “As a man thinketh, so is he.”
And Romans 12:2 has always been one of my life verses:
Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
That renewal doesn’t happen accidentally.
It’s a choice.
And for me, it was a necessary one.
Why I Created This Session
I carried a lot of labels for a long time.
Too Emotional.
Unworthy.
Codependent.
In this session, I wrote those words on my body in black. The labels I wore for years without even realizing how deeply they lived in me.
And then I scrubbed them off.
Not because they never existed.
But because I decided they would no longer define me.
I replaced them with red words. Words that represented truth. Words that reflect who I actually am when I’m aligned. Confident, not as a façade, but because I’m walking in purpose. Because I’m living authentically. Because I’m no longer performing for approval.
That session was liberating. Emotional. Raw. Healing.
I remember driving home afterward and just crying, thinking, I really hope someday I can do this for other women.
That was two years ago. And honestly, I didn’t have the nerve to share these images then. Or maybe the timing just wasn’t right.
Timing Is Everything
The last year has been a shedding season for me.
Caretaking. Grief. Growth. Letting go.
And now, stepping into this new year, I feel different.
I don’t care as much about the labels people may try to place on me anymore. What I care about is purpose. And helping women who are carrying the same kinds of things I once carried.
Toxic relationships.
Codependence.
Generational patterns.
Addiction.
Feeling broken.
Feeling unworthy.
Abuse — emotional, mental, physical.
If you’ve walked through any of that, I see you.
What This Looks Like for Other Women
In Brittany’s empowerment session, she also wrote labels on herself.
But instead of wiping them away, she chose to cover them with glitter.
And honestly? That was beautiful.
Because healing doesn’t look the same for everyone. Some women scrub the words off. Some women reclaim them. Some women transform them.
There is no right way.
There is only your way.
The Invitation
This work isn’t about fixing you.
It’s about becoming aware.
Aware of the labels you’re carrying.
Aware of the stories you’re living from.
Aware of the possibility that you don’t have to keep carrying what was never meant to be yours.
If you’re in a season where you feel ready to shed old labels and step into something new, I’d be honored to walk beside you and capture that season with you.
Not perfectly.
Not performatively.
But honestly.
Lish
