Woulda, Shoulda, Couldn't....Yay!

I am a should-er. Meaning that most of the time I am driven at least as much by what I feel I should do as by what I want to do. Which means that I constantly walk around carrying a crushing load of guilt about things I should be doing. At any time, I could have an entire list of "shoulds" rattling around in my head which might go something like this:

I should do more cultural things like go to plays....
I should get a doctoral degree...
I should call that person who I'm not that into, but who I still feel obligated to call...
I should watch all the movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for the last 5 years*....
I should do more cultural things like go to art museums....
I should learn all the names of the Presidents of the United States**...
I should learn to knit...
I should try that new (fill in basically ANYTHING here: restaurant, bar, mini-golf course)...
I should get all my college girlfriends together for an all-girls weekend....
I should start my own small business...
I should start a small business to name other people's small business***.....
I should do more cultural things like go to the symphony....
I should get involved in local politics....
I should bake my own dog biscuits....
It goes on and on and on......

Does all this mean that I do these things instead of just feel guilty about NOT doing them? Sometimes.**** But not enough to make it worth feeling guilty all the time.

But luckily, I have just recently gained insight into a potent combination of circumstances that I am hopeful will cure Should Syndrome entirely: Moving to somewhere where nothing is happening while drastically decreasing my disposable income! Having just moved from "the Hub" to a much smaller city where I know very few people and having just gone from three household incomes to one, I have noticed a marked decrease in my Shoulda Syndrome. Probably because there are way fewer things that I should do! Fewer restaurants to try, fewer people to see, fewer cultural activities to feel bad about missing....and no money to enjoy them anyway! It's amazing!

For any of your should-ers out there, you might consider trying it out. In fact, I am seriously thinking of moving to a town with 8 people and quitting work entirely in order to watch the grass grow and feel totally at peace. In fact, maybe I should market this idea......



* Despite the fact that I know from experience that I always hate critically acclaimed movies of any kind. I'm more of an Ace-Ventura-Harry-Potter-Hot-Tub-Time-Machine kinda girl, even though I hate to admit it. 
**I have been working on this forever, but can't seem to ever get past Pierce. 
***  Seriously. I am AWESOME at naming businesses. Just ask my friend EDJ. He will tell you how awesome I am. If you have an idea for a business, send it along.
**** See previous posts on making jam, cheese, tonic, etc.