Romance & Reality

“I can’t be a singular expression of myself, there’s too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers, so many…” — Solange Piaget Knowles

Throughout my journey of life, I’ve come to realize that many people haven’t developed the willingness to understand the concept and existence of duality… of being, feeling, thinking, in more ways than one.

It seems many people have a hard time understanding that, as humans, we have the ability to be more than one thing. I can be both quiet and outspoken, comical and cerebral, reclusive and adventurous. What I cannot be, is one specific thing. I do not belong to one particular label. I cannot be confined to one category, or box. My mind doesn’t work that way. My body doesn’t work that way. My soul doesn’t work that way. There are just too many glowing parts of me to simply be… just. one. thing.

And what would life be like if you were only allowed to be just that one thing? Miserable. Boring. Sedentary… in my opinion. Growth, discovery and elevation don’t stem from stagnation. They stem from exploration and deviation from the norm.

In no way do I believe that I am exempt from character flaws. However, I do believe some of the social conflicts that I’ve experienced with others were significantly influenced by their inability to place me in a box for their own personal understanding of who I am.

At this point, I’ve probably received over a thousand labels. Soft-spoken, assertive, spoiled, selfish, calm, feminine, aggressive, seductive, sweet, and so on and so forth. And I don’t think it’s the labels themselves that disturb people, but rather the contradiction. But is it really a contradiction? Or is it a lack of understanding in the current context, setting or situation?

Now, I want to clarify that it’s not my intent to care or dwell on what other people think of me. However, in observing what and how people think of others, I noticed that, ironically, people don’t really think of others to understand. They think to categorize rather than to familiarize themselves with the fact that we are all capable of existing in more than one context…

*This post was influenced by my latest poem, Everything I Am. For further context, I encourage you to explore this piece at your leisure.

If my words have lingered with you, or you feel compelled to leave a note—or a rose of appreciation—you may reach me here.

Thank you for reading, and for crossing into the world of Analise Devereaux.