Do you know how to fly? First, Love Yourself. (F–L-Y!)
One of the first steps in self-love is selecting one or more “Non-Negotiable.” A non-negotiable is that which you do for yourself regularly and that which you will not let life keep you from. We all have them. A few examples of daily non-negotiables are: brushing your teeth, taking your medicine, washing your hands, saying grace, and so on.
You can choose your own non-negotiables based on your lifestyle and needs. Choosing one can also help you better understand yourself in the process as you can begin to evaluate the things that you need to do to care for yourself.
The non-negotiables with Lipedema
Those of us with Lipedema are often asked about our self-care routines. Which ones in our self-care routines can we consider our non-negotiables? Is it going to the gym and doing a particular workout, or is it going in for a manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) massage every other week?
Pumping, compression, vibration, electrolytes, water, swimming, walking, rebounding, meditation, and the Ketogenic way of eating can be considered by most of the lipedema community as their non-negotiables.
Selecting your non-negotiables
Sticking to your non-negotiables is a good way of taking care of yourself. Labeling a self-care routine as a non-negotiable encourages you never to negotiate on ever doing them, and gives you that little push you need to perform them every day that you need to. Because of this, it’s really important to form some non-negotiables in your self-care routine.
Still, it’s understandable that others may have a hard time selecting their non-negotiables. It can be challenging to choose one if we don’t understand our needs that well yet. Some also find it hard to commit to a non-negotiable.
During journaling time, you might consider writing down one non-negotiable each day. When you write it down, it will help solidify it as something you do to take care of yourself. You might be surprised at how many non-negotiables you already have in place. And you just might find that you would like to add one or two more to your list.
What if you add another non-negotiable to your daily routine? What would it be?
~ Gail Straker, BAEd
Community Manager, Director of Coaching
Lipedema Simplified