Claiming Your Power in an Era of Diagnoses: You Are More Than a Label.
In the age of medical tests and TikTok, it’s easier than ever to find yourself with a diagnosis—or at least something that feels like one. Whether a doctor’s office handed you an official label, or you’ve pieced it together through a mix of cultural influence, social media, and your own observations, having a diagnosis can sometimes feel like a double-edged sword.
On one hand, a diagnosis can provide relief: “Finally, something explains what I’m experiencing!” “Finally, tools and strategies and a community geared towards my context!” But on the other hand, it can start to feel like the diagnosis defines you, boxes you in, or even whispers, “This is just how things are now.”
Whether your diagnosis was handed down by a professional or crowdsourced by your favorite content creators, the truth is the same: you’re more than a label. A diagnosis can be helpful and sometimes liberatory information, however it doesn’t automatically dictate how you make choices, build relationships, or dream about your life. Let’s dive into how to maintain a sense of power, possibility, and playfulness in your life.
Diagnosis ≠ Identity
First things first: a diagnosis is not your personality. It’s not the most interesting thing about you. It’s simply a word (or set of words) to describe patterns, symptoms, or behaviours you (or someone you know) believes aligns with your physiology or personality traits.
But sometimes, diagnoses—especially self-diagnoses picked up through social media—can sneakily become part of our identity. Maybe it’s because they help us feel seen, or because the cultural conversation around them is so strong that it’s easy to feel like the diagnosis explains everything.
While understanding yourself better is a good thing, it’s worth pausing and asking:
Is this diagnosis helping me feel more capable, or more limited?
Am I using this diagnosis to give myself grace—or to avoid exploring new possibilities?
Does this diagnosis feel like a tool, or a cage?
If the answers are leaning toward limitation, it’s time to reassess.
Why It’s Easy to Feel Stuck in a Diagnosis
Whether official or self-prescribed, diagnoses often come with a lot of cultural baggage. Here’s why you might feel disempowered:
The "Fixed Identity" Trap:
Diagnoses can feel permanent, like they’ve etched a big neon sign over your life that says, This is who you are now. This can lead to over-identifying with the label instead of exploring the full spectrum of who you are, appreciating your complexities and contradictions.Social Media Magnification:
Online spaces can make diagnoses seem larger than life. It’s easy to fall into the rabbit hole of #relatablecontent, where people’s stories reinforce the idea that your diagnosis defines every aspect of your experience.The Authority Dilemma:
When a diagnosis comes from a medical professional, it can feel like the final word—like you need to defer to their expertise completely. Self-diagnoses can create a similar feeling, where the internet or a community starts to hold more authority over your life than your own intuition.
How to Reclaim Your Power
Here’s the good news: no matter where your diagnosis came from, if you feel like it’s feeling less like a source of empowerment and more like an oppressive force, you can reclaim your autonomy and step back into the driver’s seat of your life.
1. Be Curious About, But Not Defined By, the Diagnosis
Think of a diagnosis as a tool, not a title. It can help you understand yourself, but it doesn’t have to dictate your story. Ask yourself:
What does this diagnosis help contextualize?
Where does it ‘miss the mark’?
What choices and points of authority do I want/have in my life?
Sometimes the most empowering thing you can do is shift your mindset from “I am [diagnosis]” to “I am someone navigating [diagnosis].” Or, perhaps take it a step further: it can be empowering to step away from a diagnosis and ‘un-labelling’ yourself. This can support a reclamation and centring of your own personal experience. An example of this might look like “I am someone navigating [symptom / emotion / experience] at the moment.”
2. Tune Into Your Experience
Social media and cultural narratives around diagnoses can amplify the idea that your condition determines everything about you. Instead, take a step back and reconnect with your body, mind, and intuition.
What’s true for you?
What brings you relief, joy, or a sense of ease?
What stories about your diagnosis might not be serving you anymore?
This is where practices like journaling, somatic awareness, or even talking to a trusted friend or therapist can help you separate your experience from the noise around you, while hopefully also orienting to strengths-based and resourcing-based tools and discussion topics, to support you in feeling your own framework beyond the definition of a diagnosis. Often diagnoses focus on what’s feeling crunchy or hard. If we’re focusing on this all the time, it can result in a ballooned ‘negativity bias’ or other cognitive distortions. Taking time to focus on what’s working, what feels resourcing, and the ‘silver linings’ of life can be critical.
3. Embrace Visioning and Possibility
A diagnosis can sometimes feel like a full stop, but it’s more like a comma—it’s just one part of your story. Take time to dream about what you want your life to look like, diagnosis and all.
What goals or passions light you up?
What’s one small step you could take today toward something that excites you?
How can you work with your diagnosis, rather than letting it limit your vision?
For example, instead of saying, “I can’t do X because of my condition,” try asking, “What would it look like to do X in a way that feels good for me?” After all, we *all* have strengths and weaknesses. Asking yourself ‘what could I do to shift this and make it even just 5% better’ is a powerful practice that increases choice and self advocacy.
4. Reconnect with Your Inner Authority
Whether it’s a doctor, a social media influencer, or your well-meaning cousin, it’s easy to let outside voices take over after a diagnosis. But no one knows your life like you do.
Reclaiming your inner authority might look like:
Seeking multiple perspectives and opinions when making decisions.
Trusting your body’s wisdom and signals.
Giving yourself permission to explore approaches that resonate with you, even if they’re unconventional.
Choosing to look at a new context or diagnosis from a variety of different (perhaps contradicting) vantages to support a ‘triangulation’ and mind-expanding inquiry into how you feel about this new information.
5. Play with Joy and Pleasure
Diagnoses can feel heavy, but your life doesn’t have to. Carve out space for moments of joy, curiosity, and play. What makes you laugh? What makes you feel alive? Lean into those things. I believe this is a valuable practice in its own right, however, there’s also such great research that illustrates the biochemical benefit to cultivating pleasure in daily life. Further, pleasure and joy aren’t ‘just’ indulgent—they’re a way of reminding yourself that you’re more than your diagnosis. You’re a full, complex, wonderful human being with dreams, desires, and a whole life ahead of you.
You’re the Main Character, Not Your Diagnosis
Whether your diagnosis is official, self-diagnosed, or somewhere in between, it’s important to remember: you are so much more than a set of symptoms or a cultural context.
Your diagnosis can be part of your story, but it doesn’t get to define your plotline. You’re the author. You’re the one holding the pen. And the next chapter? It’s all yours to write. So what do you want it to say?