In her groundbreaking book, At the Crossroads of Should and Must, Elle
Luna hit a nerve with creatives, teachers, and artists everywhere. Which
path is best?
It’s a question all of us have faced at some point in our lives: follow the course of security or take a turn
and go with the unexpected. And with all of the pressures and demands of daily life, it can be so
compelling to follow the “Shoulds”. After all, we have mortgages to pay and responsibilities to
ourselves and others.
But in the midst of following our “Shoulds”, we can get lost. We lose our creative identities - those
wonderfully unique qualities and desires that make us who we are. Or were. Especially true for
educators, when we finally get to summer break, we look back on the school year and begin to
question ourselves and our work. What happened along the way?
Turns out, we forgot to feed our “Musts”. The things we MUST do in order to feel like a fully alive and
fulfilled person. This month, we’re honored to interview artist and author Elle Luna (who is also
keynoting the summer Arts Integration and STEAM Online Conference) as she explains this paradigm
shift and why it’s crucial to spend some time with the M usts in our lives.
STEAMed Magazine: Your book, at the Crossroads of Should and Must, is truly a must-read for
all creatives. What’s it all about and why should we pursue our “must”?
Elle Luna: Have you found your Must? Have you found that voice, that calling that is
unavoidably, inexplicably you? Because that's what Must is. It's who you are, what
you believe, what you know to be true when you are alone with your truest, most
authentic self. It's your passions, your longings, your urges and desires. Must is why
you are here, and finding and following our Must is the journey of our lives.
But what if you haven't found your Must? What then?
Well there are a few tips and tricks, which we'll talk about at the conference, but chances are that
something else, something talked about a lot less, is at work, holding you back from your self, and that
thing is Should.
Should is all of the voices and expectations that others put on us. It's all of the obligations put on us by
our families, by our communities, and by culture at large. Sometimes Shoulds are small, like "you
should attend the Steam conference!" (Which is a very good idea, I might add), and other times they're
large and insidious and mixed into culture, which makes them harder to see at first: you should sit in
the back of the bus because of your skin color, you should get an education because you're a girl. The
big Shoulds are often at a cultural level, and when we choose them, we know it immediately because
we can feel it. Our muscles tighten and constrict. We shrink. It feels restrictive because it is.
STEAMed Magazine
22
April 2016 Edition