How To Fall Back In Love With Your Life This Season
As the seasons change, many families and individuals naturally feel a shift in their lives. The fall frenzy often comes with feelings of overwhelm and disconnect, especially from yourself if you’re the manager of your household or of your children’s lives.
From new schedules and routines to new activities, priorities, and things to do, the fall is a great time to reconnect with yourself and refresh areas of your life that may feel a little off or ready for change. I encourage you to take a moment to pause and reflect on your “dream life.” While many people chuckle at this suggestion, your dream life may be more attainable than you realize with a few edits and intentional planning.
Reconnect and refresh areas of your life
When it comes to reconnecting and refreshing life, focusing on the foundation and basics of all areas are key. For me, this means reconnecting with food, fitness, family, and fun again.
I currently have two teenage daughters who are quickly growing and keeping me on my toes. During this season of life, it’s important for me to make the most of my time with them, especially while they’re often out doing their own things and making lives for themselves.
I try to remind myself to adapt to where my girls are in this stage of life. I do my best to prioritize our time together even though the moments are few and far between and often not nearly long enough. Maintaining a meaningful relationship with them is a top priority for me, so I try to structure what I can to meet that goal.
As I adjust my schedule during the fall season, I reconnect with the following areas of my life to feel refreshed and rekindle excitement and motivation.
Reconnecting With Food
Reconnecting with food during the fall season is one of my favorites. Fall offers new flavors, seasonal goodies, and oftentimes new schedules around eating hours.
To reconnect with food, ask yourself what is the simplest, yet most loved meal in your home? While it doesn’t necessarily have to be the healthiest, try to pick a loved meal to connect with everyone over, and think of the one that brings everyone running to the table with a smile.
Maybe you only get one meal at the table together a week. Which one can you fall back in love with and make a priority? In my home, the fall favorites we all enjoy are homemade chili and bread or spaghetti and meatballs.
While bread and pasta might not be considered the healthiest option to focus on, adding vegetables in other areas of the dish can elevate the nutritional value of the meal as a whole. You can add tons of veggies in the chili and spaghetti sauce, and adding a side of broccoli, green beans, or tossed salad is easy and nutritious.
Reconnecting With Fitness
Oftentimes summer fitness routines need to be adjusted for one reason or another as the fall season rolls around. Later sunrise, busier morning schedules, and cooler temperatures may all influence your workout routine and what fitness looks like in your life.
What type of exercise or physical activities do you love to do? Maybe it includes yoga, walking, HIIT, working out alone, or getting active with a community around you? Try to get away from the “burden” or “chore” mentality and have some fun with fitness!
How can you reconnect with an activity or exercise that you love and simply let the health benefits follow? Find a way to enjoy this so you commit to it long term by removing the overwhelm and connecting with things you enjoy. Feel appreciation for your body and its ability to move in any way.
What are some of the basics of fitness that could use some attention? The need for more stretching and flexibility to help reduce the stress of this season or life in general? Adding in strength training for those of us who are 40+ years old and know that muscle mass is more important now than ever! Perhaps it was too hot this summer for your running but these fall temps are more enjoyable… change it up!
Remember that it’s a new season, and seasons often call for change.
Reconnecting With Family
How do you gather everyone together during the fall frenzy? What’s the simplest way to connect in meaningful ways during these short moments? The key is to working with everyone’s schedules as you can and not forcing things that don't work for your family’s lives.
As you reconnect with your family, consider the following.
What phase of life are you in with your kids’ ages?
What days & times do you have available with the other members of your family?
Remember that your kids have priorities outside of the family time, too. Adapt as necessary to make the most of everyone’s precious time.
For those with teens, connecting isn’t always the easiest. Some simple ways to show your love when you’re short on time with your teens could include buy their favorite ice-cream, look at a silly video they’re laughing at, fill their gas tank, be their uber driver, go to their events, tell them you’re proud of them, or feed them and their friends their favorite snacks.
It’s not always about fitness and vegetables – it’s about meaningful connection in small moments.
Reconnecting With Fun
Don’t forget to plan for fun! What are the simplest and most accessible ways for you to have fun these days?
Fun is not always at the top of my priority list, and I literally have to schedule it in. When it comes to fun and reconnecting in the fall, I recommend focusing on just you and not worrying about dragging the whole family along.
One of my favorite ways to have fun is through taking walks with my friends. This is at the top of my list before the winter hits and cold weather rolls in. I try to schedule a friend or two a week to spend an hour or so walking and talking as fast as we can to make the most of our short time together. While it might not sound fun to some, it truly fills my cup to spend this time with these amazing people I so rarely see these days.
You may also enjoy being a tourist in your own town - I know I do. It can be a simple way to experience your local surroundings and explore places you drive by frequently but never have time to stop and see. Wandering through the streets of Lancaster is truly an adventure when you pretend you’re a tourist.
Live music is also a fun favorite of mine. Live music used to be a semi-regular thing for me and then it disappeared. I am recommitted to enjoying live music as much as possible, whether at the local park, a rooftop restaurant, or large venue.
Embrace the fresh fall season
Whatever this fall looks like for you, take some time to evaluate your priorities and rework your life as you can in ways that support those goals. Reconnect, refresh, and have fun embracing this new season. Change can be scary but is needed to create growth. Cheers to this fall!