We grew up in a culture where we were not taught to be sensitive and attentive to ourselves. Most of our sensations, feelings, desires, needs and aspirations were easily and categorically brushed aside in favor of the notorious “shoulds”, “musts” and “what people will say (think)”. As a result, we do not know how to love ourselves, we do not hear our body, we do not understand what we want, we don’t know how to enjoy the moment, we live our lives automatically, we burn out emotionally and professionally, we get nervous, irritated, we isolate ourselves from people and we build up a protective shell for ourselves more and more so that we don’t feel anything at all... Try to answer yourself, only honestly, to these questions: Do you allow yourself to live? Do you breathe deeply? Do you find joy in little things? Do you praise yourself? Do you indulge? Do you allow yourself to be fooled? If someone had asked me about this 5-10 years ago, I would have realized with horror that the answer to most such questions would have been “no.” At school, I refused to go on field trips. I didn't go to graduation at the institute. (The reasons for the refusal were, by the way, very “adult”, rational.) I loved to dance, but at discos a significant part of my time was spent “swinging up” (I couldn’t peel myself off the wall or from a chair, relax, “catch the wave”). Fooling around? I? Are you out of your mind? I'm a serious girl. And a birthday is a sad holiday. I was always in a bad mood the day before and that day, to put it mildly. Someone will say: “What nonsense? Who is stopping you from enjoying life?” But it turns out that everything is not so simple. Every person goes through life with a baggage of conscious, unconscious and semi-conscious attitudes received in early childhood. Everyone has their own. Someone can pull a whole carriage, but he is lucky: his parents managed to put this carriage on wheels, so it is not so difficult to pull it. And someone can carry a small suitcase. But the problem is that the suitcase does not have a handle, and the contents are very heavy. So we each walk with our own burden. And everyone struggles as best they can, as best they can. It is certainly possible to change the situation. It is possible to overthrow the regime of “must” and “must”. You can learn to hear your own voice and give yourself permission to be, to breathe, to take up space, to use resources... But... you personally can?