you can be fluid
anti-labels, once again 📦
there tends to be an expectation to fit well under labelled categories. even when these categories get more nuanced, there’s an urge to label each of these as well. of course, this is important for mass consensus, but on an individual level, it’s okay to exist in a fluid state in between labels.
i watched a tiktok today that was something along the lines of, “i would be vegan … but cheese.”
then, “okay, so be vegan but cheese.”
it is better to be 90% of something you’d like to be than not at all. many of us forget that we don’t have to perfectly fit under a label description to move toward it. not even job listings work that way. people apply while missing qualifications all the time. people grow into things.
but somewhere along the way, we started thinking that any inconsistency disqualifies us entirely.
you can care about sustainability, but still buy certain conveniences. you can value health, but still crave junk food sometimes. you can be introverted until you’re around the right people. you can want freedom, but also stability.
most people exist somewhere in between.
but the internet especially makes it feel like you need to become a fully optimized, internally consistent version of a category before you’re allowed to identify with it.
like if fluidity means dishonesty.
i don’t think humans were meant to fit this neatly into descriptions. labels should help us communicate parts of ourselves, but not force us into rigid identities we feel pressured to perform perfectly.
you can be in progress and contradict yourself sometimes. you can also partially align with something and still let it matter to you.
i think more people would become closer to who they want to be if we stopped believing they had to arrive there perfectly first.
today’s drops 🔎
apply to this multi-track research fellow program by june 7th
tech internship @ composio
women in ai event in toronto during toronto tech week