Autumn Musings

Its time to embrace the season and snuggle down for autumn

My motto for this year is embrace every season. I am a Christmas person. I love the season to be jolly, the decorations, the giving, the singing and the food. This year I thought, why not be excited throughout the year: every season has its parts to look forward to. But as soon as we had a string of rainy and grey days I found my mood drop and I was sad to see summer go. After some reflection I have thought of many reasons to be excited that its autumn. Baking flavourful treats, reading while cosying up in some blankets and getting out all my boots and warm coats. So here’s my thoughts of how I am planning to embrace autumn this year.

Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash

Side note: I live in New Zealand which is in the southern hemisphere so Autumn runs from March-May. Where I reside it doesn’t get too cold and doesn’t snow and there’s usually the best weather in February and March. Now its the first week of April and you can definitely tell its autumn.

I usually get little reminders of upcoming seasons because I work in a department store. Things like Christmas cards in August and Easter displays during new years make me super prepared for holidays. Yesterday during my shift there were all things cosy, electric heaters, colourful flannelette bedding and fuzzy blankets. There were some amazing brightly coloured merino tops. But for $35 I thought maybe I’ll buy one when it's actually cold outside.

Autumn is a great time to get cosy. Next weekend I’m planning to go through my wardrobe and find all my warm clothes: winter coats, shirts and stockings. The worst thing is being freezing cold during the day. It would also be great to spend some time going on an autumn shopping trip. Not so much to buy new items (although I may indulge), but more so to really get into the season, looking at all the amazing clothing and exciting decor that has come in for the new season. 

Recently to embrace Autumn I have been baking a lot of loaf cakes. Apple cinnamon cake with a crunchy cinnamon topping is the epitome of Fall. Next on my list of baking is cinnamon rolls. The thought of warm sweet/spicy flavour melting in my mouth is divine. Also on my list is making a big batch of hearty soup from starch and then freezing it for consumption over the next few weeks.

Autumn and the ramp up of uni seem to go hand in hand. At the beginning of the semester it's still summer. Some days I see the beautiful blue sky through the window while studying and think: I’m going to take the evening off to go to the beach. But now with the cold grey rainy days I’d rather stay inside all wrapped up and warm. It goes well with the endless amount of study that needs to be done. That being said, I still need to spend time outside during autumn. I can’t wait to walk through parks with multicoloured leaves on the trees and breathe in the smell of wet grass. I am also someone who doesn’t mind going for walks in the rain, I might even enjoy it. And so I definitely want to make time to do that. Usually in spring and summer it's time to grow plants and do up the garden outdoors. However, now that its autumn I have been spending the last few weeks tending to indoor plants. I love caring for plants, making sure they have enough sunlight and are watered well but not too much. Its nice to see some green inside when outside all the leaves are orange and falling off the trees. 

Autumn is also a great time to slow down. For me summer is about all the places I need to go and all the activities I need to do. It always feels like there’s so many external things to do during the summer, both out of necessity and leisure. However now in autumn and winter its time to look inward and start working on all my personal projects. I’m calling April my “back to basics’ month as its time to reassess my goals and refocus my attention on doing what really matters to me. Things like exercising and having a consistent sleep schedule, and a solid daily routine. The beginning of quarter 2 of the year is the perfect time to look back on the plans I made at the beginning of the year and make sure I’m working towards what I truly want.

After all that, here’s a list of things I want to do this autumn

Autumn Bucket list 

• Autumn shopping trip

• Buy colourful merino tops 

• Bake cinnamon rolls

• Make a hearty batch of soup

• Read an autumnal book, ideas: Circe, Jane Eyre, The Secret History (or other dark academia), Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables #3), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

• Take care of indoor plants (buy some new ones)

• Learn to crochet 

  What are you planning to do this autumn?