You Should Do What You Should Do

Arrange your life so that you can prioritize your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. Shutterstock

“Should” seems to have become a slur these days. We have become defiant at the idea of “should.”

“Who says?” we say. Thinking about “should” leads to shame, and shame is bad, right?

On the other hand, there’s this sense that maybe we “should” take care of that thing we’ve neglected, improve one area of our life or another, demand more of ourselves, try harder, or aim for our fullest potential.

Sure, there’s a point when beating yourself over the head with “shoulds” does more harm than good, and offering “shoulds” to others may garner cold responses. Still, shouldn’t you do what you should do?

Yes, you should.

You Should Curb Neglect

You stare at that pile of unopened mail and know you should sit down and process it. You see unheard voicemails or unread emails and know you should respond. You think of your loved ones and know you should reach out to them more often. You see the dirty dishes in the sink and know you should wash them.

You should become someone who doesn’t neglect life’s responsibilities—big and small. Start small to improve your habits, consider others, stop procrastinating, and do what you can (and should) do.

You Should Take Care of Yourself

You wake up late, rush out the door, eat whatever you can quickly grab, agree to more than you can handle, rush around all day trying to keep up, crash at the end of the night, staying up way too late eating junk and scrolling through your phone to unwind.

Life has many seasons. Perhaps your current one looks like this, perhaps it looks different. Whatever season you’re in, though, you should leave room to take care of yourself.

Arrange your life so that you can prioritize your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. You should.

You Should Let Go of Perfection

Perhaps the underlying reason you’re not doing what you know you should do is that you also have a vision in your mind of how to do it perfectly. However, given your constraints, you don’t feel you can live up to that vision. Perfection is a tall order, after all. So you do nothing instead.

You should let go of your perfect ideals and get down to what you should do, which is something, not nothing.

You Should Believe in Yourself

Somewhere inside you, you know you can be more than what you are now. You’re playing a smaller game than you’re truly capable of.

You should demand more of yourself and do better—at work, in your relationships, in your creative pursuits, at home. Do what you should do to make improvements and aim for that potential that you know, deep down, has been there all along.

You Should Aim High

You’ve been blessed with a very specific personality, your own character, unique gifts, and a variety of talents. Perhaps you haven’t discovered all of them yet. Perhaps you’ve overlooked or even belittled some of your gifts.

You should know yourself better, embrace your gifts, and aim to put them to use toward the greatest good you can think of.

Aim high. You really should!