{"id":3865,"date":"2014-06-30T12:30:24","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T17:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lovingonme.com\/?p=3865"},"modified":"2017-04-30T18:59:24","modified_gmt":"2017-04-30T23:59:24","slug":"shakin-off-the-shoulds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/2014\/06\/30\/shakin-off-the-shoulds\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakin’ Off the “Shoulds”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jungeLately I\u2019ve been noticing a trend in all of my conversations. I\u2019ll be catching up with a friend, or discussing current events in their life, and all I hear is the \u201cS\u201d word\u2026. No, not thaaat \u201cS\u201d word. I\u2019ve been hearing \u201cshould\u201d entirely too often, so I started exploring what this \u201cshould\u201d actually is and where it comes from.<\/p>\n

During my exploration of this \u201cshould\u201d epidemic, I had a deep discussion with one of my close friends. She kept saying that she felt bad because she didn\u2019t respond to a situation the way she \u201cshould\u201d have and complained that she is not where she \u201cshould\u201d be in her life right now. I was perplexed because she is extremely accomplished. This conversation led me to examine the “shoulds” of my own life, and after great self-evaluation, I realized that I apply the same parameters to my life almost daily. I \u201cshould\u201d be more productive. I\u2019m \u201csupposed to\u201d be doing this, or going there, or I \u201cshould\u201d feel a certain way about something. That\u2019s when it hit me: if we live our lives by these societal taught but self-imposed \u201cshoulds\u201d and \u201csupposed to\u2019s\u201d, then we\u2019ll never figure out who we truly are. We\u2019ll never know how sweet life can really be because we are limiting ourselves to what we think we should be doing instead of growing into who we really are.<\/p>\n

This word “should” is actually quite funny to me. It outlines our ideal place in life, our reactions and actions, and how we feel about ourselves, where we are, and what we are doing\u2026. But who laid down these laws? Why is it the purpose of our existence to fulfill them?<\/p>\n

This has to stop! Right now. Instead, let us live our lives with the intention of chasing our dreams, doing what makes us happy, and sharing love and gratitude everywhere we go. Now that is something we \u201cshould\u201d be doing.<\/p>\n

Here are a few tricks I use when I get a bad case of the “shoulds” or “supposed to\u2019s”:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Remind yourself that you are exactly where God wants you to be in your life. It might not be quite where you want to be (yet), but thank God it\u2019s not where you used to be.<\/li>\n
  2. If you have to question if you \u201cshould be\u201d doing anything, take a step back and evaluate the situation with the big picture lens.<\/li>\n
  3. Go with your gut. You have instincts for a reason. If you make a mistake, so what!? Not only does failure build character, but these situations usually make the best testimonies.<\/li>\n
  4. Write down the most important things in the world to you. Whatever you are thinking, doing or feeling aligns with these goals and important pieces of your life. If not, then let it go.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So are YOU ready? Let\u2019s stand together and commit to shake off the “shoulds”. You’ll be better off in the end!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Lately I\u2019ve been noticing a trend in all of my conversations. I\u2019ll be catching up with a friend, or discussing current events in their life, and all I hear is the \u201cS\u201d word\u2026. No, not thaaat \u201cS\u201d word. I\u2019ve been hearing \u201cshould\u201d entirely too often, so I started exploring what this \u201cshould\u201d actually is and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sharing_disabled":false,"switch_like_status":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[204997546,114917237],"tags":[204997670,7816,22297,204997617],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/iStock-shake-off-shoulds-woman-in-field.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eAxC-10l","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3865"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12555,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865\/revisions\/12555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}