Self-Care Sunday: Are Your Labels Helping ... or Holding You Back?

In today's Self-Care Sunday tip, we take a look at whether the labels you have given yourself are helping you or holding you back.

We all have certain stories that we tell about ourselves, and some of them are truly empowering. I am an entrepreneur. I am an athlete. I am a family man.

These are all labels that we might use to help us establish our values and the boundaries around who we are and who we want to be.

But sometimes, labels stop us from growing in ways that can be small or big.

You can see how labeling yourself a "bad dancer" will likely stop you from getting on the dance floor or taking a dance class with your partner and gaining experience. Saying that you have a "block" when it comes to learning a foreign language or a musical instrument will cause you to stop trying. After all, if you believe these to be true, why would you even try?

And while these might be small examples—heck, you might not want to dance, play an instrument, or speak a foreign language—sometimes, labels inhibit growth in a huge way. If you say and believe that you are bad with money, terrible at relationships, or a poor communicator, you will never behave in ways that allow you to grow.

The way you talk to yourself is more important than the way other people talk to you. Your words become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more often you say them, the more they are ingrained into your belief system, which  directly impacts your behaviors. These behaviors, in turn, become habits, which build your life.

So how can you make shifts that open up possibilities in your life?

When you say that you are "learning to be better with money," or "learning to have healthy relationships," or "researching better communication strategies," you will be much more inclined to take actions so that you grow and become a better version of yourself.

Take a moment today to look for the labels that you and others have assigned to you, consider whether they feel empowering, and then make a plan to shift your thinking toward a better-feeling, more empowering label.