As we close out the first third of the year, the idea of non-negotiables popped into my head for some reason.  Those things that you do to keep you sane, keep you happy, keep you balanced in this world we live in today.  Whether that’s your morning coffee, reading the newspaper with breakfast or hugging/kissing your kids before they head off for the day.  Everyone has their own non-negotiables for different parts of their life (personal, professional, family, etc).  It’s a dynamic flow, constantly changing as we grow older and our priorities change.

I recently had a friend reach out because he came across one of my old posts in his inbox (shoutout Tom as you’re my highest engaged reader). The post  was from January of last year and it listed a handful of things I wanted to accomplish or incorporate into my life.  He asked me how the first item on the list, meditating for 5-10 minutes everyday was going.  I told him it was funny that he asked because I had actually just bought a yearly subscription to a meditation app a few days earlier.  After testing two of the biggest/most popular meditation apps out there, Headspace and Calm, I decided on Calm.  I’m currently on a 21 day streak and have no plans of stopping as I can already start to see and feel the benefits of just sitting still and focusing on the breath for 10-15 minutes at a time.

One example I think meditation has helped me better myself and life happened a few weekends ago at the bank.  I went to deposit a check and get cash back at a teller.  Unfortunately the chip reader for the card reader was not working at the teller I went to and she had to manually input all my info.  What should have taken 2-3 minutes max ended up taking 10-12.  I think if I wasn’t able to draw upon my morning meditation practice of not letting things out of my control bother me, I would have gotten pretty annoyed and antsy at the teller.  Instead, I let her know I wasn’t in any rush and that it wasn’t anyone’s fault.  I was then sent over to the next teller where the chip reader worked and got my cash.  Before I left I waved and smiled at the teller, letting her know I appreciated her help.

Getting back to the non-negotiable part of the post, I think there are 3 daily non-negotiables in my life right now that would be very difficult to let go of.  They are meditating, moving my body and spending time alone (in thought).  The first and last things might go hand in hand since you usually meditate alone unless you take a class.  Exercising has been a staple in my life ever since graduating college and is the stress reliever that keeps me balanced and sane.  One non-negotiable I’m currently working on is reading 20-30 a day.  I was on a good 6-7 day streak but fell off the wagon this week.  This one is tough but I’m not going to give up on it.

I recently heard a podcast (if you’re not on that podcast train, you should jump on that right away) that opened my eyes up to how we live our lives.  Podcasts are great because they are passive listening where you can listen on your commute to work, during work or exercising.   This particular podcast was a Crossfit athlete (host) interviewing an obstacle course racer (guest).  Here is a short snippet of the conversation that is on my list to work on.

Host: What does a healthy life look like to you?

Guest: I think a healthy life is being able to be content if one piece is taken away.  A healthy life is that balance and perspective of knowing that if one aspect of your life is taken away, if one part of your personality or one part of your life, you can still be fulfilled in other ways.  It’s not necessarily filling a hole, it’s being complete without (fill in the blank) and still finding peace.

To me it’s about filling your buckets and not putting everything into one because if that one bucket is taken away or tipped over, what are you left with?  I think I’ve ignored my social/going out bucket to start the year because I was putting too much into my training bucket.  Looking back, I think that if the training part of my life was taken away whether from injury or other circumstances I would be devastated and not sure what to do with myself.  It took my sister (and somewhat my bro-in-law) calling me out to get out there more to realize it wasn’t healthy.

QOTP: “Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work.  It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” –unknown