Are you truly lazy

Are you truly lazy

Or are you simply in the process of resting and recovering from all that you have been through?

Are you truly procrastinating

Or are you simply prioritising what your soul finds more valuable, enriching and uplifting?

Are you truly sad

Or are you simply purging and releasing your emotions?

Are you truly broken

Or are you simply in the process of healing from past experiences and rebuilding your life?

Are you truly antisocial

Or are you simply undergoing a period of self-discovery and learning to fully embrace and enjoy your own company?

Are you truly naive

Or do you simply have an open heart and look for the best in other people?

Are you truly a loner

Or are you simply someone who prefers to spend more time alone in solitude?

Are you weak and overly emotional

Or are you simply someone with heightened sensitivity and a greater capacity to feel emotions?

Are you truly a workaholic

Or are you simply someone with great, ambitious dreams, a clear life purpose and an incredible work ethic?

Are you truly a “bitch”

Or are you simply good at standing up for yourself when necessary

And setting clear boundaries?

Are you truly ugly

Or are you simply someone who doesn’t conform to the unattainable, artificial beauty standards of society and is uniquely beautiful in their own way?

Are you truly weird, quirky or different

Or are you simply someone who possesses their own characteristic traits in a world filled with billions of people who differ from one another?

And are you going to allow others to define you

By placing all of these labels on you

Or are you going to choose to define yourself?

Words by Tahlia Hunter

Artwork by Catrin Welz-Stein