‘Shoulds’ I let go of

Improving my relationship with food, exercise and my body & getting to a place of peace & contentment definitely didn’t happen on it’s own and it certainly didn’t happen over night.

One of the most impactful things I did was to work on my inner dialogue to make it more self compassionate.

And one of the ways I did this was to remove the word ‘should’.

By doing this I removed a whole heap of expectation and comparison and allowed me to focus on my own life, my own journey and what felt good and aligned for me.

‘Shoulds’ I intentionally removed from the way I spoke to myself were…

‘I should be thinner’

‘I should look like (so and so)’

‘I should be fitter’

‘I should be stronger’

‘I should wear (certain clothes)’

‘I should enjoy (x,y,z)’

‘I should be doing better’

‘I should be doing more’

‘I should be more (insert adjective)’

A ‘should’ gives a feeling of shame & inadequacy. It also implies that there’s a correct way of doing things, a perfection which doesn’t exist.

When I started to get my head around the fact that I could control the story I was telling myself about the life I was leaving, the life I wanted, and the gap in between things changed for me.

I stopped seeing myself as the enemy, and I started being on my own side, & trusting myself.

Is it time you did the same?