Lamenting labels:

  There's a van waiting for her when she gets back from school. No time to change clothes. No time to greet her family or even grab her academy assignment from her desk overfilled with half-filled coffee cups. She doesn't even care. She has to be the best.

  There's pressure in his shoulders as he accepts the title of team captain. His muscles aching from practice , his hands trembling in anticipation as he shoots yet another basket and is filled with cheers. He doesn't care. He has to take the trophy home.

  There's a dress lying on her bed with matching sets of every trendy piece of jewelry she could procure in the months following her farewell. She knows she'll look beautiful. She always has. She doesn't care. She has to win that title.

Hushed exchanges, staring eyes , indiscreetly pointed fingers and there's nothing more.

But it is enough.

A thought for a person ,a word for that thought , a word for a person and there's no hesitation.

Whispered across ears, used for humour , shouted across hallways and there's nothing worse.

  Underneath half-hearted conversation, packed schedules and all-nighters driven by the sheer fear of disappointing there are some untold truths.

  We have reduced our world to nothingness by reducing people to labels. We have eliminated our happiness by constricting our freedom to established pretenses. We have wreaked more havoc upon ourself, than we would allow anyone else to, by falling in line with stereotypes.

 We need to understand that it is okay for her to top class and know all the cheat codes of GTA V on her fingertips.

 It is okay for him to be college captain and cry with happiness when the new BTS album releases.

 It is okay for her to be prom queen and prioritize a day at home to a night with her friends.

  We are not hypocrites , we are children.

Children who are deliberately depriving ourselves.
In our race to be better, we have stopped to be.
In our desire to stand out, we have all blended in. 
By imposing self-created boundaries unto ourselves, we have stopped lamenting labels.