Approaching the halfway mark of 2026, it’s time for an honest look at the promises we make to ourselves. In this week’s Connection Letter, I share my personal reflection on stepping away from social media, managing daily ‘human doing’ expectations (like the endless laundry pile), and redefining non-negotiables to reclaim true Quality of Life…
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening!
This week, I took a few days off, away from our online world. Choosing to no longer be present on social media platforms that no longer serve me turns out to be one of the best moves I’ve made lately.
Freedom of choice is very important in my opinion and although it might feel like you don’t have it in current society, you always have the choice how to respond to either a good thing or a bad thing.
In the first blogpost of this year, I advocated turning resolutions into promises. We are approaching the sixth month of 2026 and looking at the promises I made to myself, honestly, not all are going that well.
Reflecting upon why that is, and what I can do, change, to keep those promises, I realized I needed to look at my personal list of non-negotiables again.
The Practice: The Connection Book
As human beings we have three main goals and activities in life: Survive, Connect, Evolve. Creating Lifeconnections, Soulconnections, Coreconnections that are supporting your uniqueness and are beneficial to our shared world.
It all starts with surviving, making sure your basic needs are met.
While there are common basics we all need to survive, the focus on the necessity will differ depending on where you live and your personal preferences, beliefs and values. It is also about defining the non-negotiables in daily life for yourself.
Examples:
Three meals a day, between 7.5 and 8 hours of sleep, caring for our dog, making sure my husband has clean clothes to go to work (since his job is currently making sure we can keep thriving) and building an online world for meaningful connections are non-negotiables for me.
While I am not the type of person to iron clothes for two to three hours in a row, meaning I always have a stack of wrinkled clothes waiting, I do make sure my husband’s clothes are clean and neat for his next workday.
Lately, I’ve noticed I’ve slowly stepped away from the nutrition choices I know enable me to feel more healthy and energized. At the beginning of this year, I made a promise to myself to get it back on track. Those three meals a day… I need to add the world ‘healthy’ to my own list.
I also became aware that I focused primarily on activities part of daily life, ‘human doing’, and forgot about other matters important to me to reach Quality of Life. Life is not a game; however, it is OK to have fun. Note to self!
Just like I realized last week, there are no rigid deadlines needed to reach my dreams. Quality-time, being present, “human being human”, is so important too.
The Exercise:
Last week, we looked at which tasks are supportive to achieving a Quality of Life suitable to you. This week, I invite you to look at your promises and non-negotiables.
Which of the promises you made to yourself are non-negotiables for you?
Don’t freak out when you realize not everything you discovered fits in one day. Write down the actual time it takes to complete your chosen tasks; you will probably notice you have more time in a day than it felt like. And if it still doesn’t fit? Ask yourself if your list of non-negotiables is truly realistic for a single 24-hour cycle.
It is OK to disConnect, like I did to social media platforms, in order to free up time for your non-negotiables. Enabling you to keep the promises you made to yourself.
Wishing you a week full of meaningful Connnections!
Warm regards,
Patty
PS: A note on availability. Spring and Summer are the busiest months for me personally; I do remain available for those who need a bit of one-on-one reflection. To ensure I can give my full attention and presence to each person, I am limiting these letter requests to two people per week:
- The Soul Letter: For finding clarity and reclaiming your uniqueness through a written exchange.
- Soul Support: A safe, non-judgmental space for when your struggles feel too heavy to carry alone.
If you feel you could use some personal guidance this week, you can find the details in the menu-bar (Personal Connection). If the week is full, I will let you know and we can look at the next.
