What Do You “need” to Do That You Don’t Want?
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by all your responsibilities? Sometimes it seems like there are a trillion little things you just have to do: you have to go to work, pay your gas bill, do a little workout, call your grandmother. You have to walk the dog, buy groceries, pay taxes, use dental floss – you perform countless administrative tasks every day that are necessary to keep your life simple.
It’s pretty easy to convince yourself that you have to do these things – the cost of not doing this is obvious: if you don’t walk your dog, it will pee on the mat; if you don’t go to work, you will lose your job; if you don’t floss, you will lose your teeth.
But what about all those things that people tell you that you “should” do things that you don’t really want and that you secretly suspect that you don’t really need to? Those “must-haves” that we scare each other without much thought, which we follow because enough people have told us they are required? Such things as …
- Do I have to keep checks for seven years after filing my tax return?
- Do I have to change my car oil every 3000 miles?
- Do I have to adhere to dry cleaning only rules on my clothes?
- Should I wear black at the funeral?
- Do I need to drink eight glasses of water a day?
- Do I need to clean the air vent of the dryer after every use?
What are your “Should I”? Let us know and we can answer your question in a new segment on The Upgrade or in the next column on Lifehacker. That is, if other commenters don’t answer your question first.