I don’t know about you, but autumn has always felt like the ideal time to start fresh and make some much-needed shifts to my everyday routines—especially coming off a wild and social summer.
“Typically, summer is busy and a lot less structured. We travel, schedules get weird, maybe we’re going out more, staying up later, whatever it is,” says Kati Morton, LMFT, 3x bestselling author, and mental health expert. “So, naturally, fall gives us an excuse to check back in with ourselves. What’s actually working for me right now? What isn’t? And what’s working that I don’t need to mess with?”
As such, many people use fall as a season to pause, reflect, and reset, preparing for the months ahead.
Looking to conduct your own autumn reset? Here are four steps for the perfect plan.
Step 1: Pause and Reflect
Before you begin your autumn reset, take a moment to ground yourself and reflect on the areas of your life you’d like to address.
“I would actually start by changing nothing. I know that sounds counterintuitive when we’re talking about a reset, but give yourself a week and JUST pay attention,” Morton recommends. “How are you sleeping? What do your days actually look like? Who are you spending time with? What do you do when you suddenly have an hour to yourself? You’re basically gathering information on your own life first.”
Step 2: Identify Your Priorities
The second step in conducting your autumn reset is naming your priorities, whether that be more movement, less doomscrolling, more rest, less ruminating, more creativity, etc.
“And please pick ONLY one or two things, maximum!” Morton says. “If suddenly, the reset is: waking up at 6 a.m., working out every day, cooking every meal, the house is going to be organized, and I’m apparently never looking at my phone again. That’s A LOT. Then, you miss one thing, and suddenly it’s, ‘Well, I failed!’”
Whatever you choose, make sure it brings you joy. Don’t add more “chores” to your list.
“My simplest rule is to make at least one change to something you actually look forward to,” Morton recommends. “It can be really small. Sit outside while you drink your coffee in the morning. Clean out ONE space in your home.”
Step 3: Create a ‘More Of’/’Less Of’ List
A more of/less of is a great tool for discovering your wants vs. your boundaries.
“Start by asking yourself: What do I want more of right now? What could I use a little less of?” Morton says. “Maybe this week I want MORE time organizing my house and less time going to things I really wasn’t looking forward to anyway. Next week could be completely different.”
“For example, let’s say I want less time scrolling; what do I want more of instead? Maybe it’s seeing my friends, reading, being outside, whatever it is,” she continues. “You’re paying attention to what you actually want to create more space for in your life.”
Step 4: Focus on Lessons, Not Failures
The entire point of an autumn reset is to create/experiment with new habits, not to identify ways in which you’re falling short.
“Please don’t turn your reset into another test you can fail,” Morton says. “If you wanted to take five walks this week and you only took three, okay, you took three walks! That’s still three walks. What happened on the other two days? Pay attention to that and go from there.”
The post 4 Steps for the Perfect Fall Reset, According to a Mental Health Expert appeared first on VICE.
