Some of my “shoulds” stem from way back in elementary school when I first discovered comparison and became acquainted with the feeling of not measuring up. This is partially due to my personality and the fact I have a deep-seated belief that I’m lacking something important (Enneagram 4) and also because I’ve incorporated lies into my psyche to the point I’m convinced this is who I am, or who I am not.

Consequently, it’s taken me a dreadfully long time to accept myself for who I actually am. Maybe you can relate? Maybe you find yourself desperately wishing you could be like someone else, or that your life would look a little more like hers. Or maybe you were so sure things would turn out a certain way, and they just….haven’t.

But in order to make peace with ourselves and our lives and somehow find the beauty in all of it, we need to start with the truth. The truth is the way things are, for better or worse, not how you would like them to be, or how you think they “should” be. Rachel Hollis says it like this: "It’s impossible to go somewhere new, to become something new, without first acknowledging where you are. The self-awareness that comes from truly digging into what you’ve come to believe about who you are is invaluable…"