Labeling is a waste of time. It leads to a loss of productivity and progress. When we separate ourselves harshly with labels, we are losing most to all hopes of finding middle ground and/or of simply working together. I find this to be the case in our current political climate and issues surrounding it. I found myself in a cloud of cognitive dissonance and still do. That is why I have chosen to refrain from labeling myself according to my mindset in any way because labeling myself confines me to a certain way of thinking and that isn’t who I am.

At one point in time, I’ve labeled myself as a liberal conservative, libertarian and independent all at the same time. It made zero sense. I finally asked myself, why? Why do I feel the need to confine myself to mere labels when all it’s doing is holding me back?

All that labels do is hold us back from having real conversations and a real debate because in the back of our minds, all we’ll be trying to do is defend the validity of this label we’ve placed upon ourselves instead of holding an actual dialogue that could lead to real solutions. At the end of the day, it’s not about who’s right. It’s about finding a solution to a problem and working together to solve it. Because if we really want to get ahead as a people, we need to stop separating ourselves by useless labels.

Like I previously said, the current political climate and division happening right now is impeding on the possibility of having a real conversation. Unfortunately, a new thought police has emerged where certain constructive criticisms or ideas are not allowed because it doesn't necessarily align 100% with the agenda they're attempting to push. There are two extremes, and those in the middle are being tugged at each end. They feel forced to pick a "side" when there shouldn't any be sides at all. There should be open and honest conversations.

It’s okay to think differently. In fact, diversity of thought and freedom of speech are some of the greatest things to ever be introduced to mankind. However, we must stop attacking and dividing each other through our thoughts and instead aim to work together through them. We can agree and we can also disagree. But it doesn’t mean that we should work to diametrically oppose each other on every issue.

For example, the Republican party and Democratic party are such polar opposites in terms of their stance on issues, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s all a facade, a way to divide and conquer and many of us feed into this lie. Instead of finding solutions, we’ve unconsciously become a part of this rat race that leads to an increased lack of progress, lack of productivity and a lack of diversity of thought.

We can’t be stuck in the way we think. We cannot be satisfied with the way things are now. We must always question our mindsets in order to properly grow and evolve. And quite honestly, placing labels on ourselves does nothing but hinder that.