@neil

So many people interpret "here's what I do" as "you should do this too" though.

It was something I found when I home educated the kids. If I said I home educated most people took it as a criticism that their kids went to school, despite me saying that home ed wasn't for everyone in the same way that school wasn't for everyone. I never understood it.

@neil avoiding "should" or "must" when addressing others is also my long running practice, some decades now.

However.

Just resorting to "I" I find pretty unsatisfactory. So I am on a quest to be able to talk in "weak we" forms, to signal there are actually a bunch of us, and there is community to be lived and found. Otherwise there is a risk it perpetuates neo-liberal thinking while the right wing occupies "community" and turns it into a violent mob because people want to belong ...

@neil Yes!

One of the problems with "should", even for those with the best of intentions, is that the word is ambiguous: "you should do X" can be used to convey (among other shades of meaning) "I believe that doing X might well be in your best interests", but also "Not doing X would be a moral failing on your part". Even genuine kind-spirited advice intended with the first meaning can come across as criticism/manipulation with the second...