The Shoulds

Dear Friends,

I have this little patch of land in my backyard that has turned a bit jungle-like of late.  In former years it held a garden…but not this year.  I thought about weeding and mowing it these past several weeks, but my younger son prefers the jungle-like quality of it, so I figure, why not keep growing a jungle?  It’s causing no harm and it’s bringing joy to my son… so we continue to grow our own little jungle.

I don’t like gardening.  It’s not my thing, it’s not a space in my life that brings me joy, and instead it just ends up feeling like a burden to me on multiple levels.  I love that it brings so many others joy and peace, but it’s just not me.

But here’s the thing…for years I thought I SHOULD like gardening.  I judged myself for not liking it.  As ridiculous as it sounds, at times in my life I pretended to like it because I thought it was something I ought to like.  But I just don’t.  

I’ve been sitting in the ways we cast judgment on ourselves for things we think we ought to be doing, things we think we ought to enjoy, ways we are different then our expectations of what we should look and be like.  And I’ve been wondering how it would feel to really stand in our own, genuine self without casting judgment.  I’ve been wondering how it might feel if we could give ourselves permission to be exactly who we are, instead of who we think we should be.

My dear friends, I hope we can all let go of the shoulds a little more this week, and stand in our own genuine selves.

Have an amazing week, my friends.

Love
Krista