Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

If you're anything like me -- well, first of all, God love/help you -- but if you're anything like me you spend a lot of time bossing yourself around.

It's the "shoulds" that get me.

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to New York (lovely), following a few weeks of puppy-sitting (cuddly), which meant spending more time at her house than my own. So I've not been home much for what feels like a very long time.

I walked in my front door and before I got up the stairs, I'd thought to myself, "I should go to the grocery." "It's so nice out; I should go for a run." "I should do a load of laundry before it gets too late."

The grocery. Exercise. Laundry. Mmm, sounds like a party.

Oh, and while I'm at it, I should lose 15 pounds, get to work earlier, go to yoga three times a week and the gym twelve, volunteer, call my mother, learn French and Italian and conversational German, and then lose another 5.

How come I never say to myself, "I should sit on the couch and watch TV?" "I should crack a beer and put my feet up?" "I should get off my own damn back for a couple of minutes and relax and enjoy a little bit of life?"

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm hardly a slave-driver. I relax, a lot. Seriously, a lot. But it seems like, generally, we're so mean to ourselves. So hard on ourselves. I'm the worst offender -- if I ever heard any of my friends speak to themselves in the same tone of voice as my perpetual inner dialog, I would wag my finger and shame them for being ridiculous and unrealistic with their demands and their harshness.

So before my self-indulgence wears off and the self-inflicted to-do list reinstates itself, I'm going to raid the fridge -- which currently holds two beers and a string cheese -- open the door so some of this springness comes inside to greet me, and read a book while Mario Lopez fills me in on the important comings and goings of Hollywoodland.

I encourage you to do the same, instead of the laundry.