Ever notice how the word should sneaks into your goals and steals the joy? 

We sat down with Scott Plate, Alex Papworth, and Mark Henderson to unravel the pressure to optimise our lives for status, speed, and approval—and to replace it with a gentler standard: moving from inner desire, not external demand.

We start with a vivid metaphor: learning to drive a manual on a hill. Finding the friction point between clutch and gas mirrors the balance between listening to the world and listening to ourselves. From there we tackle childhood scripts—“What will you be?”—and the labels that make others comfortable but leave us small. Alex gets honest about belonging and taboo during messy career transitions. Scott reflects on the courage to stop explaining choices and to let people be wrong about you while you follow what you know. Mark explores meaning through service, sustainability, and the reality that purpose can change shape as life unfolds.

The conversation journeys through mountain zigzags, sailing tacks, and the mesmerising flow of a starling murmuration. Each image reminds us that growth is rarely a straight line. Sometimes the truest path looks like leaving a promotion, changing tribes, or walking away from an impressive label when meaning evaporates. We talk about slowing down enough to hear the quiet signal beneath the noise, choosing communities that make space for your nature, and becoming an instrument for the work that wants to move through you. Practical? Yes. Romantic? No. Worth it? Absolutely.

If you’re tired of chasing goals that don’t feel like yours, this is a warm, clear invitation to trust your inner gravity. Subscribe, share with someone who needs a kinder compass, and leave a review telling us: what should are you ready to release?

Thank you for listening and taking the time to explore our podcast.

Earthaconter: Connection, Exploration and Expansion
www.earthaconter.org