nonnegotiables of life | September 22, 2025

This week, I want you to focus on the non negotiables in your life. When life is stressful, it's fall season, all the kids are playing sports, life is busy, you've maybe overcommitted, if you're anything like myself. It's like, hey, life can be stressful. And then there's things that just happen without your permission, realizing you're not in control. But one thing that anchors me is my non negotiables.

What are your non negotiables? Do you have non negotiables? What is a non negotiable? It means it's a discipline that you've done long enough to where even in the seasons where you're most stressed, most burned out, worn out, these are your anchors. They keep you grounded.

I'm gonna give you three to focus on. So if you don't have any nonnegotiables, take mine and start to apply them because these will help build the framework, the architecture of helping you handle the most stressful seasons of life. And the more you do them, the more disciplined and rhythmic they become, the more you can rely on them as being food for the soul. So what's my first one? My first one is your morning time.

Prayer, gratitude journal. Prayer, gratitude journal. If you're not spending every day in prayer and writing three things you're grateful for, start that today. It takes five minutes, maybe ten. It doesn't have to be anything special.

It's a conversation with God, expressing your heart's desires and what keeps you up, what's wearing you out. But it's also a time to reflect how good we truly have it. We are so blessed when we see the blessings in our life, when we just pause and say, "Hey, these are three things I'm grateful for." So one non negotiable is every day spend time in prayer and write three things you're grateful for. This will anchor your mind and your perspective, anchor you spiritually.

Number two, move every day. It doesn't have to be special. It doesn't have to be an hour long gym workout. It doesn't have to be a leg workout, an upper body workout. It could be fifteen minutes after a meal.

You go for a walk. But when you choose to move your body every day, one, it does enormous things for your health, but two, it creates a resiliency under stress. One the non negotiables I have is I sauna every day. And for me, this builds stress resiliency. I move every day.

It builds stress resiliency. And even in the days where I feel the most stressed and don't feel like working out, because my body has been doing it for so long, I just find myself showing up at the gym, even if it's just twenty minutes, five minutes on Monday, I did a five minute workout. That's all it was. Five minute workout, 100 wall balls, but it grounded me. It rooted me into a sense of stress relief.

You know, in the beginning, if you don't have these non negotiables, then a lot of times it can feel stressful. But if you do them consistently enough, they will add so much value to stress resiliency. And number three, relationships. Don't run from them, run to them. Community is where we heal.

People help support us and carry our burdens in the seasons that we need them the most. So what does that look like? Well, be intentional with your meal. Have a meal with your family. Be intentional in the conversations with the most important people around you.

If anything life teaches, it's we don't know when our last day is. What will you remember from the last conversation you had? Was it good? Was it positive? Was it intentional?

Or was it distracted? Was it on a device? Be intentional with every conversation, every person, every moment. You can't live like that, get it, 10 out of 100% of the time, all the time. I think we can do better.

I think we can be more intentional with the conversations that we're having. Encourage a friend today. Have a meal with a family. Be intentional in your relationships. And encourage someone in your life.

When you take the focus off you and you encourage someone around you, there's a reward that returns back to your soul. This is a nonnegotiable. Healthy relationships. Specifically, encourage and empower someone in your life today and it'll add value to your soul. When you look at the season ahead, establish some non negotiables, movement, prayer and gratitude, and healthy relationships.

And in this season, it'll add a ton of value to your soul, to your mind, to your body. Thanks for listening to Manna Monday.