How to Get Past “I Should” and Actually Become a Healthy Person
When I was a dieter I had a mindbogglingly long list of things I “should” do to reach my goals.
I should go for a run every morning.
I should do 100 crunches per day.
I should be a size 2.
I should not drink calories.
I should never eat ice cream.
It makes me exhausted just thinking about it.
Amazingly I was able to do many of these things (I’ve written before how I actually have pretty strong willpower). But it was a constant battle and it still never felt like I was doing enough. No matter how hard I tried, I was never happy.
It took me years to understand that it was in fact all these shoulds that were holding me back. That I had externalized my motivation, letting it be dictated by goals outside my true feelings, and by doing so sold myself short.