How to Plan an Autumn You'll Actually Enjoy

If you're like me, you love to celebrate holidays and special occasions. And you love fall!

So you look forward to the seasonal transition that shifts us into fall and your intention is to enjoy all things fall. But you don't typically plan how you want to enjoy it.

I never did until the last couple of years or so. But one reason I began to do so is that I kept getting to the end of the season, wondering where the time went and wishing I'd been able to celebrate it more than I had.

So if that resonates with you, let's talk about how I plan an autumn that will feel perfect for you.

Before You Make Your
Autumn List

​When we think about planning for fall, it's easy to start with the activities.

Maybe you want to bake something with apples, go somewhere to see the leaves, decorate the house, have a pumpkin drink at Starbucks, spend an afternoon wandering through a bookstore, watch your favorite fall movies, or sit outside with a cup of tea when it's finally cool enough to need a sweater.

And I absolutely think you should make that list.

But before you do, think about how you want autumn to feel.

Do you want it to feel cozy? Peaceful? Playful? Nostalgic? Spacious? Like a ​celebration?

Do you want more time outside? More quiet mornings at home? More time with people you love? More ordinary nights that somehow feel like fall?

Because once you know how you want the season to feel, it's much easier to choose the things that will actually give you the autumn you're hoping for.

For example, as I have asked myself what I want to feel this fall, it hasn't just been coziness. I also want to feel more connected to myself and to the divine. And then what comes to my mind is nature and moments of stillness. 

I'm still mulling it over, but it puts me in mind of combining coziness with stillness. Tea and moments of meditation or being in nature (or seeing it from the window, as I usually do, because of allergies) - and writing in a journal. Or praying. 

What are the feelings you want to experience this fall?

What Would Help Autumn 
​Feel that Way?

​​Once you have a sense of how you'd like autumn to feel, think about what might help create more of that feeling in your everyday life.

And this is where you can start thinking about specific autumn activities and experiences.

If you want more coziness, maybe that's an afternoon spent reading under a blanket, making soup for dinner, lighting a candle when the sun goes down, or having your first pumpkin drink of the season.

If you want more joy, maybe you want to make a point of playing your favorite music while you bake something, going somewhere beautiful to see the leaves, watching the fall movies you love every year, or spending an afternoon with someone who makes you laugh.

If you want your autumn to feel slower and more peaceful, your list might look completely different. Maybe what you really want is tea on the porch, quiet Sunday mornings, a walk outside, journaling before bed, or one evening a week when you don't make any plans at all.

Think about the things that make something inside you go, “Yay!! It's fall.”

​​Some of them may be special things you'll only do once or twice.

But don't overlook the small things you can repeat throughout the season.

Because I think that's one of the ways we end up feeling as if autumn passed us by. We wait for the pumpkin patch or the scenic drive or the perfect fall weekend, while most of autumn is happening on perfectly ordinary Tuesdays.
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​This is why I made the Planning for Autumn page below. It gives you a place to think about what you love about autumn, what you want more of this year, how you want your days to feel—and then bring all of that down to earth by considering what tends to get in the way and what you actually have the time, energy and money for.
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The Free Printable
​Autumn Planning Worksheet

planningforautumntoo.pdf
File Size:	6335 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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It was just a couple of days ago that I created this worksheet. And as I was writing this post, I was thinking about my desire for connection to myself and to the divine. The thought felt important enough that I stopped writing, made myself a copy of the planning page I'd created for this post, and started jotting down ideas.

Hope this post has inspired you too. What are you eager to write down?

See you next time!

Love, Jeanine
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