Being Labeled

Years of striving for professional success have supplied me with an abundance of feedback on my behavior, both solicited and unsolicited. I have surely received my share of criticism for complying with being labeled too competitive when I volunteered to take charge of a certain project. The woman who made the remark told me I should have waited until someone nominated me. (I might still be waiting there if I'd taken her advice.) To this day, I did a phenomenal job and look back on it with great rewards. Yes, I was labeled as "Goody, Goody, Two Shoes" but as I recall, it brought much joy to the Owners of the Company that I not only gave some fantastic ideas to better the Company, and a change in attitude with some of the negativity that had been going on was gone! (Plus I received a big bonus for my great idea.) Criticism always had a tremendous impact on me. I learned I must take the power back from all those people I had given it to and begin judging my behavior myself, taking both control of and responsibility for my own actions. Does it bother us when we are labeled "God/Husband Honored?" It has become far more acceptable to me to accept things this way and at the same time being happy with the two labels: "Goody, Goody, Two Shoes" and "God/Husband Honored."