Anxiety: A state of apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a realistic or fantasized threatening event or situation, often impairing physical and psychological functioning.

You could also say that anxiety is a function of what Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City aptly describes as shoulding. The realistic or fantasized threatening event or situation comes about because we want something to be contrary to the reality of the situation. It is no wonder I find myself in a constant state of anxiety. I should all over every single aspect of my life, from daily occurrences, to how everything else in my life should be. Its quite pathetic really. The slightest non-event can ruin my day due to my resistance in accepting what is so at that point of time.

Take this morning for example. I decided to catch a bus to work rather than taking the train, believing a more direct route to work would save an annoying train line change at central station. What I didnt take into consideration, however, were the frequency of the bus stops in the middle of peak hour traffic, making the journey to work much longer than the simple 10 minute wait between train rides. I was going to be late. Really late. All of a sudden my mind went into it shouldnt be this way mode, and I was performing the silent angry dance (mental trashing of everything) every time the bus stopped. Id curse the passengers who held me up because theyd buy their ticket from the driver instead of holding a prepaid one (even though I did the same thing when I got on the bus), until eventually my shoulding went into overdrive: I should have recharged my phone so I could call the office, I shouldnt have taken so long to get ready, There shouldnt be so many bus stops! Didnt we just stop, like, 100 metres back? There should be a bus lane, Im so irresponsible! and on and on and on and onthis futile mind activity proceeded to develop into a full-blown anxiety attack. And for what? Being 20 minutes late for work? Ma vaffanculo!

And then there are the broader aspects of shoulding that persist on a daily basis. This ranges from my physical appearance (I should be taller, have smaller bones, thicker hair, and darker, smoother skin), my age (I should be further into my career by now, own a home by now, have saved $20 grand by now, know more stuff by now, be married with children by now), my family (they should be more together, more educated, and more loving and supportive of me), and everything else you can think if. Its never perfect, and there is ALWAYS something to fix.

What would it take to give this shoulding up for good? Firstly, I need to look at the impact shoulding has on my life. Shoulding in actual fact means that I dont have a life. If I dont accept the way everything is, from my hair to my bank balance, and take real responsibility for it, really own it, then Im not 성인피시방 really living, because Im never really present. Life only exists in the here and now. The past only exists in memory and the future doesnt exist at all. So shoulding takes us out of life because it is not related to reality at all. It is not whats so right now. The sooner I accept what is so, the sooner I come back to, well, life!

I believe it to be as simple as that. Life shouldn’t be any other way just because it isn’t any other way.

Right now Im shoulding about what Ive just written. Im telling myself it should be funnier, and sound less like Dr Phil. But do you know what? What is even more important to me right now is that I express my experience living in the world of should, with the hope you can relate to what Ive just said, and maybe even get something out of it.