My Daily Non-Negotiables for Self-Care

It was the year 2018 in the month of October when I had gone on a family trip to Kashmir. It was one of the most memorable and enjoyable days of my life. We had the perfect balance of leisure and doing the touristy exploratory things.

One thing that stuck with me from that trip was how every evening when we came back to our rooms after all sight seeing, my uncle and my sister would without fail go on a walk. The exercise habit was something they had incorporated in their schedules since long and they made sure not to skip it even when we were vacationing. Of course, they thoroughly enjoyed too what they were doing and it clearly didn’t seem to be compulsion in any case for them.

Back to the present, it’s soon going to be a month of moving to a new city and settling into a routine which has led me to become cognizant of the importance of non-negotiable self-care. The more I try to incorporate some discipline in my life the more I realize the level of freedom it can actually bring in. Being able to set some non-negotiables for ourselves is at the core of our overall well-being.

What Are Non-Negotiable Habits

Non-negotiables are the everyday tasks, the routine ones that you must do irrespective of anything which gets you to feel in control of your life. That something you’re 100% committed to so you can feel good (even momentarily which overtime grows in duration) and become the best version of yourself.

Tips to Keep In Mind for Setting Up Non-Negotiable Habits

1. When you are setting a non-negotiable for yourself, ensure that it’s not a copy-paste of anyone else’s but is entirely something that represents your own values and principles. If not, it will be too easy to miss them. It’s like promises that you’ll give yourself with nothing or nobody else getting in your way. These are not the numbered days challenges or things we would do for a week or month or so, we need to make them inherent to our very being and that’s precisely why it has to reflect our beliefs.
2. After my recovery, one of the biggest mistake I was making which was leading me to frustration was trying to change or inculcate several habits at once which is too much for anyone. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t happen. I had the intent. But, the fact is that adopting one new habit takes a lot of mental processing power thereby it’s necessary to go one new at a time.
3. Don’t expect perfection. When I first started my morning walk as a ritual at the start of this year, I kept the timer twice for two minutes with a two minute interval. That’s how little a time I gave it. I shun the negativity in my head about what would this small thing even achieve for me. But the point was to keep at it consistently. I am not training for a marathon yet, I am not eyeing medals for my practice so the need to do it flawlessly or go by theoretical definitions of what’s right doesn’t exist in my present situation.
4. Keep the habits that only take a small chunk of your time initially so you can avoid the inertia that we tend to commonly face when adopting something new.

These are some habits that I have adopted to take care of my health and maximize my productivity and get going through the day that might help you as thought starters to kickstart making yours.

• Thirty minutes for Daily Morning Walk
• Yoga or Basic Stretches in the evening or when time permits
• Drinking a cup of warm water with Lemon and Honey after I wake up
• Ten minutes of daily meditation
• Reading (though I need to work on making it more useful or guided and separate from Scrolling on Medium, nonetheless I’ll tap my back)
• Spending some time in nature (with shifting cities I’m glad to be including this into my lifestyle watching sunsets or enjoying green spaces)
• I love my sleep time a lot and it’s difficult for me to operate when I don’t get the right amount of it. At least seven hours of good sleep totally needs to be ticked daily.
• Even in the insanely crazy days, taking time to give a hug and get one and play silly with your loved ones; it sure eases a lot of the tensions. (With my parents staying away, speaking to them goes in directly here as well)