Nonnegotiables

I’m a late bloomer when it comes to serious grownup things like discipline and retirement savings and spreadsheets. I’ve always excused myself as the “fun” one, the spontaneous rainbows-and-butterflies gal who was just too cool for those kinds of things.

Then I had four kids.

Now that some of them are teens, it’s official: I’ve graduated into the no-fun, too-serious, you-never-let-me-do-anything mom.

Yeah, I’m probably less fun because you call me bruh, you don’t listen (often because you have ear buds in that I can’t see so I’m giving you VITAL information), and your ideas are crazy. Ok, not always crazy. Just foolhardy.

Like, what mom in her right mind would drop you off to walk around town with a boy that you’re in the “talking phase” with that she hasn’t met yet. I don’t think so. I dare you to call me boomer one more time when I say no….

Sidebar: I’m a GenX. I feel like we’re sort of the forgotten generation. I hear about Boomers and Millenials but where my GenXers at? You know who you are. We’re the ones who should never have survived our childhoods, what with games like Lawn Darts and riding our bikes all over towns sans helmets and our parents having no idea where we were since we didn’t have cell phones.

But I digress. The older I get, the more some of these adultish things make sense. I’d like to be able to have a great quality of life when I’m an old woman. I also recognize that what I do now sets me up for later.

Or doesn’t.

Now that I’m, ahem, more mature, I better develop the discipline to eat healthy and workout. And I may eventually want to stop working (though I really love what I do so I don’t see that hapending any time soon) so I’ll need a retirement plan.

As a life coach, I sometimes need to coach myself. I know dreams remain just that unless I take action on them. So if I do a little reverse-engineering, I recognize that I need some daily nonnegotiables.

My list of daily nonnegotiables is pretty simple. I spend time with Jesus and coffee. I walk 10K steps and try to drink a gallon of water. I attempt to get enough sleep (though with teens—do they ever go to bed?!).

I try the 80/20 rule for eating—I eat healthy eighty percent of the time. I spend time writing, coaching, and growing my ministry. I also do grownup things like use an actual spreadsheet to track our finances.

I don’t always get things right. And sometimes I take a day off from being so grown and barely think about my nonnegotiables. But as a work in progress, and as one who encourages others to do the same, I find that a little consistency in my nonnegotiables brings me joy, progress, and stability in my present. And they make me look forward to my future.

Do you have any nonnegotiables?