Welcome to Labels Are Hard, a space for personal reflections on relationships, connection, and community—and the ways we try to make sense of them all.
What This Is
This blog is a collection of musings about four interconnected themes that shape how I think about connection and care:
Polyamory
Navigating multiple relationships, managing time and energy, dealing with jealousy, and finding ways to communicate clearly about needs and boundaries. The challenges and joys of non-monogamy, and the ways we try to label—or resist labeling—our connections.
Gift Giving
The art of showing care through thoughtful gestures. How we express love, appreciation, and connection. The meaning behind gifts, the expectations we carry, and the ways giving and receiving can deepen relationships.
Partner Dancing
Connection through movement. Communication without words. The beauty of moving together, reading each other’s bodies, and creating something collaborative in real time. What dancing teaches us about partnership, consent, and presence.
Friendship
The many forms friendship takes. How friendships evolve over time. The difference between friends and partners, and whether those distinctions matter. What it means to be a good friend, and how we navigate the complexities of platonic love.
Why “Labels Are Hard”?
Sometimes labels help us understand ourselves and communicate our needs. Sometimes they limit us or create false boundaries. Sometimes the things we’re trying to name don’t fit neatly into any category.
This is a space to explore those tensions—to think through the ways we try to make sense of our relationships, our connections, and ourselves. To question the categories we use, to notice when they help and when they hinder, and to find ways of relating that feel authentic rather than prescribed.
Stay tuned for more musings on why labels really are hard—and what we can learn from that. Because sometimes the most important things are the ones that don’t fit neatly into boxes.