Community Stories

Tabitha: Free from Labels + Lies

Flaws do not make me a failure; flaws make me human. I’m not perfect, but I’m all kinds of awesome, because I’ve learned to live a life free from labels and free from lies.

Support our Nonprofit Magazine!

Before you start reading... There has never been a time when our community and content was needed more. Unlike other sites, we don't publish sponsored content or share affiliate links. We also don’t run ads on our site and don’t have any paywalls in front of our content–-anyone can access all of it for free.

This means we rely on donations from our community (people like YOU!) to keep our site running. We want to be here to support you all through this pandemic and beyond, which is why we are asking you to consider donating whatever you are able.

A single (or monthly) donation of just $5 will make a HUGE difference and will help keep our nonprofit running so we can continue offering peer support for mental health through our content.

 

BECOME A MONTHLY PATRON


Some were applied on my own — such as feeling like I was the reason people I loved were hurt and left my life — and others came through either the people around me, the way I was treated, or illnesses I wouldn’t understand until I was much older.

Tabitha: Free from Labels + Lies | Libero Magazine

The lies and labels others put on me created a shell of self-hatred and disappointment in myself.

As depression and feelings of hopelessness began to cloud my mind, all I could hear was the word ‘failure’.

For as long as I can remember, there was a lot of negativity piled onto me in my life. Early childhood trauma told me if I got close to those who I loved, I would lose them. In the span of two and a half years, I lost my mother, gained a step-mother, and nearly lost her in a car-accident, which left her in a coma for three days with severe brain damage.

I shut down, and locked myself in a world of books. At the time, we were not aware I had a mental illness, and this fuelled into issues with my family.

I was disobedient, I didn’t have friends — save for the girls on my street I was growing up with — and I quickly earned the ‘biggest loser’ label in school. I was a chubby kid, which led to teasing and bullying. Kids would scream “earthquake” as I walked onto the playground, and they would pretend to fall off the play-set.

One of my first ‘boyfriends’ broke up with me the day after we started dating because I wasn’t ‘hot enough’. In high school, I was called a bigot and closed-minded simply for being a Christian. I could go on with example after example of things piled up on me, painting a very skewed image of myself in the mirror.

By the time I had graduated college, I was a mess.

When I had a complete mental and emotional breakdown just over a year later (thus discovering I had BiPolar II disorder and two anxiety disorders), I didn’t even know who I was anymore.

Between the labels and lies which had piled onto me throughout my life, and the new labels and lies which came from being mentally ill, I couldn’t figure out where I was in the midst of all that crap.

I did my best to move forward and try to reclaim my life, and while I managed to rediscover myself, I hadn’t actually defeated those lies and those labels. I had just buried them. For the most part, I even managed to convince myself they didn’t exist anymore.

The mask I had created to show the world was fooling me just as much as it was them.

The biggest problem with lies and labels and their control over us is they filter into all areas of our lives, including relationships. While my time dating my now-husband was one of the strongest, best relationships of my life, once we got married these things began to filter in. They affected our relationship health by causing me to get angry and upset over things I thought he was saying because of my own insecurities which I had built up.

And probably most devastating, the lies filtered into our intimacy. I struggled to be intimate because of all of these lies — I was too fat, too unattractive, my thighs were too big, I’m not sexy, I’m too emotional, I won’t be able to please him because I’m too inexperienced. I couldn’t enjoy it because then I’m using him, I’m manipulating him. I couldn’t enjoy it because he waited for me, but I never waited for him. I was garbage. I was a failure.

I struggled in my job, even though it was my dream job, because I kept expecting it to fall apart.

I was the girl who destroyed everything I touched, lost everything I loved.

I wasn’t really as strong a writer as I was being told; they were just pandering to me. I’m barely adequate, because I’ll never really be good enough.

I was waiting to be fired for not being good enough, and to have my husband walk out on me for not being good enough. It took my husband being brave enough to tell me I should talk to someone, for me to step up and go forward with it.

A few weeks later, I met with a Christian Counsellor who walked me through a program which teaches you how to discover who you really are amidst the lies and labels, and how to let them go. It meant going back to that little girl, and one by one dissecting the lies and labels at their roots.

It meant, for me, prayerfully seeking out God to find out the positive labels he had for me.

At the end, I found a girl who was brave and bold, loving and caring, who wore her heart on her sleeve and pursued everything with a fiery passion.

Just over a year later, my marriage is thriving, my career is thriving, and I’ve learned to differentiate between the mess of a girl who was hidden inside, and this new girl. I have flaws, but that’s part of being human.

Flaws do not make me a failure; flaws make me human. I’m not perfect, but I’m all kinds of awesome, because I’ve learned to live a life free from labels and free from lies.

Tabitha

Tabitha has a degree in journalism, is an avid blogger, and is passionate about mental health awareness, faith, and feminism. She is a happily married, a mother of three furbabies, and a survivor of/warrior against BiPolar II Disorder, anxiety, and PCOS. She is a hardcore geek, Disnerd, and loves listening to music, writing and creating things. She hopes to be a voice of hope, showing others their illnesses do not define them.


SITE DISCLAIMER: The opinions and information shared in any content on our site, social media, or YouTube channel may not represent that of Libero Network Society. We are not liable for any harm incurred from viewing our content. Always consult a medical professional before making any changes to your medication, activities, or recovery process. Libero does not provide emergency support. If you are in crisis, please call 1-800-784-2433 or another helpline or 911.

1 Comment

Click here to post a comment
  • This brought me to tears Tabitha. You are such a good person; talented, kind, smart and you carry yourself with such confidence, I’d have never imagined that you were/had been experiencing so much self negativity. Proud of you for this raw share and for seeking help to find yourself.

Subscribe!

Become a Patron

Support our nonprofit magazine by becoming a monthly patron!