I have been thinking a lot about my identity recently. It was started by an activity on a coaching course which has spilt over into some introspection for me. I have always said that I am a bit of a contradiction. I am nervous and shy whilst at the same time being exuberant, outgoing and confident. For a few days, I have jotted down my personal labels. I have also added a few that came through Twitter (thank you to @Exposing40, @jadeserotica and @SilverDomUK).
In the past, one of my survival strategies was to ignore my identity. I just went through each day. It worked to an extent but it is only through accepting who I am that I can also recognise and meet my own needs.
Here are some of my labels.
This is a raw post as taking the pictures to see the labels makes using flattering angles and clever cropping not appropriate. This is me. The good, the bad and the brave.
Who else is sharing for Sinful Sunday? Click and see.
I love this post’s honesty.
Velvet x
Thank you, Velvet.
I love this post! So creative and so honest. I can relate to feeling as though In often have contradictory personality traits. I can be shy and then spoken.
I think that it takes time to understand your own contradictions. It is good to do though. 🙂
I love this idea and the photos! Beautiful and powerful!
xxPenny
Thank you, Penny. 🙂
Your making me thinkIdon’t know if I can handle this level of introspection even though I know it’s high time I got around to it
It is a good thing to do – when you are ready. You can always start with just a limited number of labels.
This is beautiful and brilliant and really thought provoking. It makes me want to make a list if my own personal labels, though I know my presentation won’t be half so lovely or effective as yours. xx
I am really happy that it is thought provoking. I would love to see a glimpse of your personal labels – if you were happy to share them. Thank you, lovely. xx
I love these pictures. Its honest, beautiful, and creative.
This is kind of amazing! What a great way to explore how you label yourself. Great photos too! Xxx
What a brilliant and very sexy way of ‘finding yourself’ 🙂 and, wow, what a marvellous collection and array of labels!
I love the honesty here. You are a beautiful woman in many ways.
Oh! There are labels on the pics? My mind filtered them out unless I concentrated. I am such a perv. 😉
A fantastic, powerful, and incredibly vulnerable process, and post. Thank you so much for sharing your rawness, labels, and beauty.
xx Dee
This must have taken a serious amount of work, and courage. And what an amazing result.
Once I had the idea, I was so involved in the process that I didn’t notice that it needed courage. Thank you. 🙂
I love the honesty of this post, great idea for pictures 🙂
Oh, this is just *so* brilliant and I am so happy I answered your tweet about words! I have a total crush on your photographs – they are always so considered and honest and beautiful! Xx
Thank you so much. Your answer was brilliant as it wasn’t only wonderful but it also encouraged me that I was going the right way. Xx
This is you…. and you are beautiful. I LOVE this idea so very much. Labels are such tricky things really, they can feel so loaded at times and yet we need them to be able to communicate. I think the key is owning them and knowing what they mean to you and then maybe it makes wearing them a little bit easier
Mollyxxx
Thank you so much, Molly. I think that is exactly it. Labels need owning so that they are part of your own strength and not how others contain you. Xx
This is great! I love the honesty and I can completely relate to feeling like a contradiction sometimes. Good luck as you learn to love each and every one of those labels. 🙂
Thank you, Rye. I have different comfort levels with some of those labels but every pne of them is a label that I accept for myself.
This is such a fantastic post for it’s originality and it’s honesty. It will stick with me for quite a while and also the next time someone breaks out labels or post it notes in a meeting odds are I’ll be thinking of this and smiling.
Thank you. There will be a twinkle in my eye the next time labels and post its come out in a meeting too.
Wow, Honey, you have knocked it out of the park again! Simply genius idea. You inspire me to rethink some (or most) of the labels I have attached to myself. For the record, you do not have an unflattering angle, gorgeous one! xox
Blush Thank you, Oleander. I am sure that you have a lot of positive labels. Sometimes they just need finding and owning. You are so great. Xx
You are Brave, Bold and Beautiful. In Body, Soul and Personality. I absolutely love the fact that the positive labels out numbered the negative.
Thank you. 🙂 When I wrote the original list, I just let my mind free. It was good to see the balance of what came out in that. I think we all have a good list somewhere but we often spend more time noticing the less positive labels.
Absolutely gorgeous post, and then I don’t only mean the pictures. The fact that you have all the labels here that define you in some or other way, that you have been thinking about them, that you’ve made them yours, that you own them. This post is 100% you and you are beautiful 🙂
Rebel xox
Thank you, Rebel. This post took quite a process to make but it was such a good thing to do. Xx
i love your handwriting, and your beautiful habit of combining words literally with nudity. beautiful…
I do have a bit of a kink for words and skin. 😉
Clever, and really like the concept
Such a great idea and a lovely set of images
KW
This is so clever . . . impressed by your patience and creativity in putting this together. But also for making me stop and think as I read each word!!!
Xxx – K
Thank you, K. That has made me so happy that you stopped and thought about each word. This was more than just a picture.
We were having a similar discussion yesterday, I wouldn’t know where to start with labelling myself, so many seem to fit but deep down I’m not sure some really do fit. Then there’s not wanting the labels to stick, I don’t feel like I fit into certain boxes nor do I wish to be squashed to fit into a box.
Amazing post!!
I think you hit the nail on the head. This worked for me because the labels are mine. I couldn’t have done it with a small number of labels because that would have been too limiting. It worked for me because I could use such a variety. I am complex and so needed many labels.
This is so cool. Camille Preaker would be proud.
I absolutely loved this the first time I saw it and I still love it now.
Such a brilliant idea and such a brave thing to do. Xx
I love this post. Your pictures are both stunning and thought provoking. Labels are an interesting thing. Too often we let them hinder us. I will be thinking about this one for quite some time. I’ve been working on a list of things I love about myself. Maybe I should work on one of what others think of me, how they see me.
Stella
Xxx
That is a lovely array of labels! and what a great idea… labels can pigeon-hole people at times into certain stereotypes but by owning who you are it can set you free.
~Kazi xxx
This is a spectacular photo! Very clever idea.
Unique, creative and a powerful thought provoking photo. A photo to get a discussion started on self-identity. There are times I ask myself the same thing. Impressive!!
Such a beautiful and thought provoking post! Thank you for sharing yourself and for putting ideas in my head. Now I’m thinking about labels of my own…
We’ve occasionally wondered about our blogging identity, since it has to be kept separate from our actual offline identity. This strikes us as a very clever idea for a post. Very bold, and very sexy!