Never Let Your Shoulds Stop Your Coulds

As I get a little older and (hopefully) wiser, I continue to shed the skin of societal norms and expectations. The reasons for this are rooted in things I’ve educated myself on that are too deep to get into in this short post, but the general idea is this:

Do not allow yourself to be pigeonholed into what you are ‘supposed’ to be. If you went to school for a certain subject, you are not committed to that for the rest of your life. If you had a job with a certain role, your next one could be the complete opposite. Don’t limit yourself to the “shoulds,” or you’ll miss out on the “coulds.”

We spend too much time coloring inside of the lines. Too much time trying to make sure we are doing what we’ve been taught to do. Too much time worrying, and not enough time doing. What is it, really, that we are concerned about? Failure? Failure is temporary. People think of failure as the opposite of success – but the reality is that failure is part of the journey towards success. Without one, you cannot have the other.

We have to slip on the rungs of life as we climb the ladder, it’s part of the deal. Nobody escapes it. But those who wait at the bottom staring up for fear of when that slip will come, never end up actually climbing at all.

The bottom line is this – you can be, do, have, and work for anything you want in life, at any time. It’s going to suck sometimes. It’s going to be hard, challenging, and discouraging – but, nothing worthwhile comes easy.

Now…go out into the world and kick some ass, because there are no stories written in history about people who followed the crowd.