A label I can stick to...

Those of you who know me know that I dislike labels. Not the sticky kind or the blogging kind, but the kind that we attach to people. In my eyes, a label reduces a beautifully complex human being to just one defining feature. Jocks, geeks, plastics (Mean Girls, anyone?), tomboys, goths...the list is endless. I get that we like to pigeon-hole people because it makes them easier for us to understand, but in reality it just means that we're overly confused when they present a characteristic that we have deemed to be incompatible with their 'type'. And let's not even think about getting into how most labels are derogatory and highly judgemental!

I've resisted labels throughout my life. I've been the 'white' girl, the 'poor' girl, the 'geeky' girl, the 'plain' girl, (and most recently) the 'single' girl. I've hated all these labels. I've always wanted to be defined by who I am, not what I do or don't do. Until now.

It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I don't have any friends outside work here, but work is my life now. The only time I'm not thinking about work is when I'm watching tv. I'm not kidding - I recently had a dream about a class test I was planning (and I never dream).

I am an educator. And in spite of the low pay, the ungrateful students, the mindless bureaucracy and the towering pile of lab reports that I need to mark, there is nothing else I would rather be. And if people want to label me 'the lecturer girl', then I will wear that label with pride.

I'll still watch the cricket and fangirl over Made In Chelsea though.