1. My personal well-being: I’ve realized that when I am mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually well, I am in the best position to live my life to the fullest. This includes being my own best friend and loving myself unconditionally, even when I stumble and fall; replacing my inner critic with positive and encouraging self-talk; eating healthy and exercising, even if all I can manage is a 20 minute walk; time to connect with a higher power; and to meditate.
2. My self-respect: There may be times in my life when a friend or loved one walks all over my sense of self, damaging my self-respect under their hob-nailed boots. I’ve learnt it the hard way to never, ever, no matter what the circumstances, let anyone walk all over me or treat me like a doormat. My self-respect is the most important thing. Period.
3. A home that feels like me: Note, I didn’t say a magazine-perfect home. With all the amazing home interiors I see on Pinterest, in magazines and on blogs, it’s easy to look around my pad and hate everything about it. But when I stop and analyze, I realize that I love each object in my house – it all has a history, a story. It’s warm and welcoming and lived-in, which really isn’t something I can say for a lot of those picture perfect “white houses” I see online. If I’m able to keep my home clutter free for long periods of time, more power to me! I am open to change, to better my surrounding, but I refuse to give in to internet envy.
4. Allowing myself to dream big and DO big: There are no limits to imagination. I’ve found that it’s very important to allow myself to imagine a live that fills me with joy, and then go out and work towards achieving all that my heart desires! I may win some and lose some, but I know what I’m working towards and why. When something no longer resonates with me, I drop it, instead of living up to someone else’s idea of perfection. Since I am a procrastinator, I keep reminding myself that the only thing standing between my dreams and reality is action.
So, what’s non-negotiable for you? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
This is GREAT!…Sometimes we just need to sit back, be still, and re-valuate what’s important to us and what things we choose to stand for and others we decide not to tolerate…The one that hot me the most was “Self Respect”…I’m pretty soft spoken and I can see myself at times, allowing people to disrespect me…I need to better at standing up for myself…the thin line for me is not coming across harsh or full of attitude…cause I would be fed up by that point…and DON’T want to be counterproductive…I love your positivity, girl!
Self respect is a biggie for me. I see so many of friends allowing people to walk all over them just because they can’t be firm about what kind of behavior they won’t tolerate. I keep trying to tell them to stand up for themselves, ’cause no one else is going to do it, but I also realize it isn’t easy for a lot of people. So glad you stopped by, and thanks for your lovely comment! 🙂
I loved reading your blog – it really hit home to me that we need to be firm with ourselves about these non-negotiables. We so often overlook them in favour of other peoples well being, other peoples, opinions, other peoples needs. Thank you for the reminder! (Visiting from the SITS Girls http://lesley-justsaying.blogspot.com)
I think women, especially, tend to put others needs before their own, and then feel put out when others don’t do the same for them. It’s a balancing act to be sure, but you absolutely have to put your own needs first sometimes, ’cause no one else is going to do that for you.
Non-negotiable for me is everything you just mentioned plus spending quality time with my kids everyday and keeping love & respect in my marriage.
I agree with you about keeping love & respect alive in marriage – it’s very important (& can be hard to do sometimes!)
For me it is living a creative life.
Cheers to that! 🙂
Wonderful priorities all. They should resonate with many people!
Self respect is so big to me. There are many days when I too feel like Ive been stomped on. I have to stop and dust myself off and go on.
From. sits! I totally agree with your perspective of your home! It has to reflect who you are. I love how you put it, tell a story! Perfect!
Recreateanddecorate@yahoo.com
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about shooting targets.
Regards
Howdy! Would you mind if I share your blog with my
myspace group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Thank you
You can certainly share the link to my blog or to a particular post that you think would be helpful, but please don’t copy the content. Thanks!