In families, someone gets called “the smart one” and someone “the sporty one.” You’re allowed to be more than your label.
STILLNESS
WHAT THIS MEANS
Families hand out roles early, usually for convenience, and keep using them long after they stop being accurate. A label works like a lane: being the sporty one means everything else you do gets treated as a side project, by everybody including you. You are more than a word somebody picked when you were nine.
Do one thing this month that belongs to a different label. Sign up for the play, build something, try the subject you are supposedly bad at. Expect some teasing, let it pass, and remember the point is that you collect evidence, not that they change their minds.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Which family nickname has been describing you since you were small?
MORE IN SOLITUDE & SELF-KNOWLEDGE
- There’s a difference between knowing about yourself and knowing yourself. One is a list. The other is practice.
- Alone at night you’ll hear the real reason you did something. It’s usually not the one you told everyone.
- Save the odd little thoughts you have on solo walks in a notes app. Read them in a year and meet an earlier you.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.