Ditch the ‘should’ and follow your joy

I have been reflecting on how we use the word ‘should’ recently. And I am realising that so much of our lives is dictated by the little voice in our head that says ‘You should do this…’ or ‘You should do that…’. Or not even coming from a voice in our head but from our family or friends or society. When we stop and question and push back on ‘should’, we realise that we are living too much of our lives according to ‘shoulds’.

Actually, what do we want to do? What do we like? Where is our North Star? What is our path in life? Are we following a path blindly because it is what we think we ‘should’ be doing? Are we in a career that we are actually unhappy in but think it’s what we ‘should’ be working at? And what we would we do if we followed our joy?

It’s often hard to know where our joy is because it’s been suppressed for so long. It takes baby steps. Small steps such as thinking about what we actually like in a supermarket. Are you buying that brand of tea, biscuits, bread, milk, etc. because that’s what your family always buy and you think you ‘should’ buy that brand too? Once you start listening to yourself and discovering the small things that bring you joy, you can start applying this to larger things in your life - your career, your friends, your hobbies, your interior decor, etc. It is magical and liberating. It is where we uncover our true selves. It is where we discover our flow. Our North Star. Our Wonder Womanness.