The Labels You’ve Accepted Might Be Holding You Back

Good Morning Reader,

Who’s Really Shaping Your Identity?

It’s easy to believe what people say about us—especially when those words come from authority figures, mentors, or people we respect. But what if they’re not actually speaking the truth about who we are?

For years, I was told I was left-brained—logical, analytical, structured. And I believed it.

It made sense. I have a background in finance. I was strategic in my thinking. And because of that label, I automatically dismissed anything outside of it.

Creative? No, that wasn’t me.
Imaginative? That wasn’t part of how I worked.
Emotional? That didn’t fit my identity either.

Yet, when I look back, creativity has always been in my DNA. I was deeply into video production, design, and writing—all things that require imagination and a creative mind.

I even built a social media platform of over 120K followers based on storytelling and engaging content. And still, I told myself I wasn’t creative—because someone else had given me a label, and I never questioned it.

The Right Brain vs. Left Brain Myth—And Why We Believe It

This idea of being “left-brained” or “right-brained” is one of the most persistent neuromyths in society.

The myth comes from research done in the 1960s on split-brain patients—individuals who had their corpus callosum (the bridge between the two hemispheres of the brain) severed as a treatment for epilepsy. In these patients, scientists noticed that certain functions were more dominant in one hemisphere than the other.

Over time, this research was oversimplified and misinterpreted into the idea that people are either “right-brained” (creative, intuitive, artistic) or “left-brained” (logical, analytical, structured). The media and pop psychology ran with it, creating an easy-to-digest but completely misleading narrative.

But here’s what modern neuroscience tells us:

• There is no such thing as a purely left-brained or right-brained person. Every function—whether logical thinking or creative problem-solving—requires communication between both hemispheres.

Creativity is not just “right-brained.”

• Neuroscience has found that creative thought involves the entire brain, including areas responsible for memory, problem-solving, and even logical processing.

Logical thinking is not just “left-brained.”

• Complex decision-making, strategic thinking, and even analysing data all require an interplay between both hemispheres of the brain.

So, when I believed I wasn’t creative because I was “left-brained,” I was buying into a false binary. In reality, I was operating as a whole-brained individual, using both sides to analyse, create, and innovate.

Yet for years, that label held me back.

The Power of Questioning Labels

It wasn’t until I started questioning the right-brain vs. left-brain idea that I realised how much I had been limiting myself.

I had spent years rejecting a fundamental part of who I was because I let someone else’s words shape my perception of myself. And once I started peeling back those layers, everything changed.

I see this all the time with my coaching clients.

Highly successful people, operating at the top of their game, but still holding back because of something someone told them years ago.

• A leader who was told they weren’t ‘charismatic enough’ to inspire people, so they shy away from stepping into the spotlight.
• A talented strategist who was once told they weren’t ‘visionary enough,’ so they second-guess their instincts.
• A creative thinker who was told they were ‘too much’—too intense, too unconventional—so they suppress the very thing that makes them great.

And they don’t even realise they’re doing it.

That’s the danger of unquestioned words.

What Labels Are You Still Carrying?

If you’ve ever hesitated to own certain parts of yourself, take a step back and ask:

1. Whose words are shaping my self-perception? Were they spoken by someone who truly saw me, or were they just projecting their own biases?
2. What parts of myself have I ignored or rejected? Have I been holding back from stepping into something bigger because of a label I accepted as truth?
3. What shifts when I let go of those old narratives? Who do I become when I embrace all of who I am—without hesitation or limitation?

The words we accept shape how we see ourselves, how we show up, and ultimately, how we thrive. If you don’t question them, you might end up living a version of yourself that isn’t fully yours.

Your Identity, Your Truth

Today, I challenge you to question the words that have shaped your identity. Do they align with who you truly are? Or have they kept you operating in second gear?

Because the moment you start questioning, you start reclaiming.

P.S. What’s one label you’ve carried that you need to question? Let’s talk about it.