Are you a victim of The Should Hook?
Welcome to Planet Earth. If you’re an inhabitant of this planet, you have very likely encountered The Should Hook. It goes something like this:
“I should wash the dishes before I relax.”
“I should write that article. I’ve been meaning to for over a week now.”
“I should call my mother.”
“I should go see my grandparents.”
“I should have completed that report today.”
“I should have done my homework.”
“I should have known better.”
Here’s another variation:
“I shouldn’t have said that. I feel so stupid.”
“I shouldn’t have eaten that. I feel fat.”
“I shouldn’t have told my boss the truth. Now I’ll be on notice.”
“I shouldn’t have been honest with my spouse about that, because now he/she is angry with me.”
“I shouldn’t have taken the highway, because now I’m stuck in traffic and I’ll be late.”
“I shouldn’t have asked that question in front of the group. I showed what an idiot I am.”
If you’ve ever said any of these statements or your own variation of them to yourself, you’ve encountered The Should Hook. It’s a hook alright, because it gets you every time. It hooks you into feeling bad about yourself because, by it’s nature, it’s laden with self-criticism.
A long, long time ago in a a far away land, called childhood, you learned all about The Should Hook and over time, it became such a part of you, that you lost your ability to recognize it with the naked eye. You lost your self-awareness about this to the point that it’s become second nature and so you never question it. You make a should statement and immediately believe it and you’re off and running down a critical path.
Ask yourself this: If you really think about it. Do you EVER feel better after you’ve told yourself you should or you shouldn’t have said or done something. I think if you’re honest with yourself you’ll answer with an resounding, “No.”
I recommend you set an intention to being more aware of this sleeper creeper.
I call it a sleeper because it’s like the sleeper movie that few people see, because it’s not getting the full court press, but once word of mouth hits a certain point, everyone wants to see the it.
I call it a creeper, because it really is creepy if you think about it. It’s like the Grim Reaper lying in wait for you to show your vulnerability and then it strikes, and your self-esteem takes yet another hit.
It joins with the rest of the evidence that you’ve unconsciously been mounting against yourself to prove that you’re not all that.
So back to setting the intention to being more aware of The Should Hook. Once you’re aware, you can do something about it. When you catch yourself in the middle of a Should Hook you can let ourselves off the hook by knowing that when you’re not doing something you think you should be doing, there’s a reason for that.
There’s something that was set-up in you, likely a long time ago, that’s keeping you from doing what you think it is you should be doing and it’s also likely that’s if you dive into this, you unknowingly set it up for your protection.
Yes, I’ll say that again. It was set-up for a positive reason; for protection. The thing is, as you get older the very thing that protected you becomes the thing that holds you back from living your fullest potential and being your most authentic self.
You don’t have to believe me, but if you’re even curious, try it on. A great way to do that is to follow along with the tapping sequence provided in the video and see what might come up for you.
Just remember; we learned to buy into The Should Hook and we can unlearn it.
Here’s To Unhooking And Stepping Into You’re Most Authentic Self
It’s so worth it