Who are we comparing ourselves to? Why do we feel that we must be what others tell us to be or that we need to live up to a standard set by others?

When we continue to “should” all over ourselves, we are preventing ourselves from becoming self-actualized or freely expressed into the person we want to be. Our measuring stick is our own and it is not subject to the perceptions or expectations of others who would tell us that we SHOULD do, or be, or act in a manner that they have prescribed for us because of their own set of beliefs and expectations