What are your daily non-negotiables?
I think of these as the things we do every day, that are so habitual, we don’t even think about doing them. They are often done on autopilot and a day usually doesn’t go past without doing them. Things like brushing our teeth, taking a shower, eating three meals a day and getting dressed in the morning.
But, what about the other things that we could be doing to look after ourselves? And why is it that, when life gets busy, the things that get neglected are the things that will help us weather the storm and build health resilience?
Good health is a series of investments but, for some time now, I have been withdrawing more than I have been putting back in.
Now, I do realise that with two young children, running a business from home and a 5-month-old puppy thrown into the mix, life is busy. I am also totally aware that we are surrounded by ‘perfect’ photos on Instagram of people who seemingly have their lives altogether. And although deep down, I know this is far from reality, it is so easy to feel dissatisfied when we don’t measure up.
But more than that, for some time now, I have realised that there is something missing.
For ages, I couldn’t quite work out what it was.
Then this week, I suddenly realised that what was missing, was me.
Where do I fit into all the busyness of my life? Am I just a passenger or do I have some control over the journey and the destination?
So, I asked myself the following questions:
Q1. What are my non-negotiables, even when life is very hectic?
A – Brushing my teeth twice a day, having a shower, getting dressed and eating three meals a day. These things happen however busy I am.
Q2. What would I like to do every day to support my health as a minimum on top of this?
A – Daily exercise, writing in my journal and 10 minutes of meditation
Q3. What benefits would doing these things daily bring to my life?
A – Better mental health, less stress, more resilience and a stronger feeling of being connected to myself
Q4. What do I need to do to prioritise these things, so that they don’t get neglected?
A – Value my own needs and health, remember how much better I feel when I do them and don’t wait for the perfect time to do them, just do them anyway.
It’s important to remember that life is always going to busy and waiting for the magical moment when change suddenly appears, is simply not going to happen. Using this strategy, I think we will be waiting a while.
This is where we can go wrong. We often feel that we must wait until we have the time and the perfect set of circumstances to do something before we can start doing it. But the problem with this is, unless you make the time, your health and wellbeing never become prioritised and can easily get neglected.
With this I mind, I have started to think about all the pockets of time I waste in a day. I quickly came up with seemingly innocent activities like scrolling on my phone, getting caught up in emails and over-committing to things in my week. But, when I added it all up, this can take up a lot of time each day.
Over the past few days, I have started changing my viewpoint around this. I am now trying to see the things that are important to me as non-negotiables, rather than just a luxury to do when I have the time.
I’m not saying it’s easy but, by reminding myself that things do not need to be perfect before I do them, it helps me to just do them anyway.
I am trying to find little pockets of time throughout my day. For example, 2 minutes of mediation while I am making a cup of tea or writing in my journal when I have a spare 10 minutes in between zoom calls. It’s not perfect, but it does means that I have been able to add the things that are important to me into my day.
So, I invite you today to think about what your daily non-negotiables are and then decide what are the extra things you would like to add into your day to support your health and fertility? For example, how would exercising daily, adding in some yoga or a morning walk in your local park or woods make a difference to your health?
Remember, if it’s important to you, then only you can make it a priority.
Take it one step at a time. You’ve got this x
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