Lessons of Fall

Oh my gourd, you’re here, fall! Ok, ok technically it’s been fall for a month, but here in Texas it’s only just beginning to feel like fall. And as fall has been settling in, I’ve been thinking about the lessons of fall and what she tries to teach us each year that she returns. Here’s what I’ve come up with and how I’m incorporating these fundamental seasonal lessons into my routine this fall.

1. Slowing Down

When fall arrives, things naturally start to slow down a little bit and the calendar tends to be a tad less booked than summer. I’m purposefully planning downtime for myself. Do you need to slow down too? (The answer is yes, because it’s the 21^st century…who doesn’t need to slow down.) How can you slow down this fall?

Ways I’m Practicing Slowing Down This Fall

Scheduling “no plans” days – If you don’t know what this is, you need it more than me haha. I love my days with no plans to catch up on whatever needs catching up on or honestly just being chill.

Stretching in the evenings – stretching is just one of those things you can’t really do fast. I’ve been doing yoga, but I’ve lost a lot of my flexibility over the years, so I’ve started stretching in the evenings to help with my yoga practice and its really helping me to slow down. Plus, I put on some of my favorite music and just day dream while I stretch. It’s really enjoyable.

Reading every day – I love to read, but I often find myself too “busy” to read, but it’s something that really grounds me and encourages my creativity. So, this fall I’m trying to be intentional about reading, at minimum, 15 minutes every day. If you need some fresh reading ideas my fall book club list will be out soon, but in the mean time you can check out my spring and summer one (here and here). I won’t tell anyone if you read them in the fall 😉

2. Letting Go

Every year the trees let go of their leaves in a trusting way. There’s beauty in this shedding process, but they do stay naked and vulnerable for a bit, but eventually they flourish again. What do you need to let go of this fall? It may make you feel vulnerable, but to continue to grow we must shed some parts of ourselves.

Sometimes when things are super busy we don’t always take the time to evaluate the things we need to let go of, but as we slow down with fall it’s the perfect time to reflect inward and to make the necessary changes.

Ways I’m Practicing Letting Go this Fall:

Fall cleaning – I’m going to have a Konmarie cleaning session because I’m honestly long over due and I’m going to let go of a lot of things I no longer love.

Clearing some limiting beliefs – You know those pesky beliefs you tell yourself are true, but really they aren’t. My favorite way to clear these is through journaling. Ya’ll know its my jam.

3. Gratitude

Some people may think this is just a fall thing because Thanksgiving is in the fall, but it really does go with the whole season. Fall is a time of harvest, a time of being aware of all that you have. So, let’s all practice more gratitude this fall, not just the week of thanksgiving, but the whole season.

Let’s take a step back and take inventory of all that we have, all that we have accomplished and all that we have “harvested”… today, this week, this past summer, this year and even this decade. Let’s be grateful for all of it because it’s all led us to this very moment.

Ways I’m Practicing being Grateful this Fall:

Saying my gratitudes out loud – I already have a daily gratitude practice as part of my morning ritual, but this fall I’m going to make a point of saying my gratitudes out loud. Having a gratitudes practice is very powerful, but saying them out loud is even more powerful. Feel weird about saying gratitudes out loud? One of my fav spots to do this is in the car!

Sharing what I’m grateful for with others – This season I’m going to really work on sharing what I’m grateful for rather than my complaints. Feel free to keep me accountable.

4. Intimate Community

During summer its all pool parties and barbecues, but come fall its all lets get cozy around a fire and sip warm beverages and just be with each other. It’s all part of that slowing down. There’s less doing and more being in the fall and winter months and its lovely.

Ways I’m Practicing having Intimate Community this Fall :

Book swap party – I had a book swap party the other day and it was the perfect fall party. We swapped books then chit chatted while we drank spiced wine by the fire. C O Z Y. Check out the details here to throw your own book swap!

More walks outside with my people – The prettier weather makes this an easy one. I love taking walks with my nearest and dearest because we tend to have some of the best convos on walks. My husband and I have already been on many walks this fall and we both really enjoy connecting in that way.

I’m sure fall tries to teach us many other lessons too, but these are the most obvious ones to me. I’d love to know how you plan to incorporate some of these into your own life this fall or any other lessons of fall you notice.

Cheers to Fall and all of her lessons,