Are you still with me, or did you immediately click away when you read the word "awakening"? If you logged out, then you already have the word "awakening" in a drawer, closed the drawer, turned the key, and probably threw it away. Or maybe you've pigeonholed the author of this text and thought, "Which tea bag throwing club does she come from?"
Pigeonholing is a system and can either be useful to people or hold them back. I would now like to invite you to pause for a minute and think about how quickly you pigeonhole people. How often do you do this, and how long do people usually remain in that pigeonhole?
One more question: Do you understand what the other person is trying to tell you when they are stuck in your pigeonhole? And could it be that you are then surprised that others no longer tell you anything?
You can wake up from sleep, from a stagnant relationship, from a repetitive pattern, or from a nightmare—to name just a few examples.
Let's take a look at stereotyping in relation to people. I invite you to take part in a little experiment. Think about your bank advisor, your insurance advisor, an unemployed person, an alcoholic, or a foreigner. What constructs have formed in your mind based on your assumptions, experiences, and impressions? And what do you think about your results?
Is this pigeonholing a bad thing? No, because it helps us to orient ourselves and maintain an overview. The world is very complex, and every day we are bombarded with millions of pieces of information. These have to be processed somehow, otherwise we would not be able to think clearly. Systems such as pigeonholing help us to filter and process information and experiences.
The question regarding the aforementioned system is rather: How do I deal with it? For example, do I categorize the bank employee as a profiteer, or the unemployed person, the foreigner, and the drug addict as "hopeless welfare recipients"? If so, it will be difficult for them to ever escape this label, even though the image is basically just a construct you have created and has nothing to do with the person standing in front of you.
We all think in stereotypes to some extent. The question we should ask ourselves is: How can I use my stereotypical thinking effectively? Use it to help you orient yourself better. Use it to categorize people broadly. For example, someone who can help you with your further development. Or someone you trust.
However, the most important thing to remember when using this system is to always leave the drawer open, check back in from time to time, and reevaluate—or do you want to be stuck in the same closed drawer with others?
