She stood in the long queue, waiting to be placed into one of the many boxes lined up before her. But each time they tried to fit her into a box, she was either too big, too small, or simply didn’t fit.

Each box was labelled: age, status, money, nationality, job, career, ethnicity, religion—the list was endless. She shook her head from side to side.

No matter how hard they tried, each time she was thrown into a box, her head would pop out. Then, her hands and legs. She just wouldn’t fit, and they grew frustrated.

She tried to explain: ‘Each of these boxes is shaped by characteristics I do not fully possess. Even if you throw me into a box labelled “age,” “status,” or “career,” I won’t behave the way society expects me to.’

Society pigeonholes us all, dictating how we should act, think, and feel. We grow afraid to fall short of those labels, so we end up living as counterfeit versions of ourselves, wearing masks that hide our true identities.

But among us, the bold ones resist. They climb out of the boxes and shout from the rooftops: ‘Make a box and label it with my name!’

In that self-defined box, there are no assumptions or expectations. There, they can be as nature made them—their true essence unfiltered and free. They don’t care if society frowns at them or looks down on them; they are free.

But not everyone is bold. The others, the weary and unsure, grudgingly crawl into the nameless, pre-labelled boxes. They wear the masks society hands them, pretending, trapped, hurt, and hurting others along the way. Deep down, they know that they are suppressing their authentic selves to fit in, waving goodbye to their true self.