“I should be a better mother.”

“I should be in that corner office.”

“I shouldn’t feel this way. It’s wrong.”

The deadly “should’s” of life… They place little bars of expectation over our heads — telling us what we need to have or how we need to behave in order to be perfect.

I agree that there are some should’s that you need to pay attention to. You should pay your taxes. You should eat less sugar. Some things are good for you and just make sense. But I’m not talking about those necessities. I mean those intangible longings that move from “I want” to “I need” and place an absurd amount of pressure on your life.

So, paying bills and taking care of yourself aside, let me relieve you from a burden…

You shouldn’t.

You shouldn’t be a size six. You shouldn’t have a perfectly decorated house so spotless that it could be featured in Home and Garden. You shouldn’t be anywhere else than where you are right now. This moment and everything that it contains is fine just the way it is… as are you.

It’s awfully nice to have it all together, but it’s not realistic. In fact, it’s not even possible. So embrace your flaws, those wrinkles and that seeming inability to be on time for anything. When you don’t let “should’s” run your life, liking yourself and where you are gets a whole lot easier.