FOLLOWING YOUR PASSION AND LETTING GO OF YOUR SHOULDS: PART ONE

Have you heard the quote, "Successful people do everyday what other people only do once in awhile"?  For me, that means that to be excellent, you must daily commit and prioritize your goals.  

Recently, someone told me about the book The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna.  I love the concept of the book - it's all about following your heard and getting out of your comfort zone and Luna does a good job of inspiring others to pursue their dreams.  

The premise is that there are two roads - should and must - and we are conditioned to choose should  because it is the comfortable and conditioned way.  If we take a chance and choose must,then we are prioritizing what we are passionate about and following our heart. When we choose should, we are in comfortable territory of choices and expectations.  Pushing past societal expectations and out of our comfort zone puts you on the road to must.  

I love the basic takeaway; we all have expectations that we put on ourselves.  These expectations stem either from our upbringing, society or our circle of friends and govern what we're supposed to think and say and what we should and shouldn't do.  When we go along with these expectations, we generally have a smooth life without a lot of risk.

Must, on the other hand, is who we really are and what we believe when we don't think about the expectations of others.  It's what we are passionate about, the ideas that we have, the places that we want to go, and the dreams that we want to fulfill.  Must is the opposite of conformity.  

According to Luna, must is why Van Gogh painted his entire life without receiving public recognition and why Mozart performed his opera, Don Giovani, even when critics called it ugly.  

As a person who grew up conditioned to take the should path, this concept is refreshing, yet scary.  Throughout my early life, high school and college, I was told what to think and say.  I don't ever remember having to make many decisions as most were already made up for me as the right thing to do.   It wasn't until I experienced events out of my control during college that I began on the path towards must and towards wondering and defining my personal goals and dreams.  Of course, underneath, I always had a sense of who I was and that person is shining bright today.  I just needed a big nudge - the path to get here was long but the rewards are great.  More to come!