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Five Practical Ways To Ease Into Fall · Head Shrink Inc.

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, another season of fall is upon us.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: It happened two days ago.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about some ideas on how to transition into fall.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: You are listening to advice.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I'm always, I don't know, if it's disappointed.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, time is constant, right?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: So the expectation of summer being over and fall happening, it's just inevitable.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like when I when I start thinking about it, I think, oh, it's August.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: We gotta do all the things because September's gonna happen, then it's gonna be in fall, and I'm in the Pacific Northwest.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna get cold, dark, rainy, and then it's gonna be dreary the next six months or five to six months, six to eight months, or whatever it is.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so it got me to thinking about what are some things that we can do, or I can do, or you can do, we can do, that can make this transition into fall a little bit easier, possibly.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: September 22nd just happened a couple days ago, and that's the official first day of fall.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I made a TikTok video about it's flannel weather now.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm currently wearing a flannel, and maybe I'll make a TikTok later today showing the flannel that I'm wearing.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're we're into fall, and so I wanted to talk about like five five ideas that can make fall a bit more easier to launch into, and maybe you've already launched into it because usually September is seen in September 1st is when people think we're back to school, pumpkin spice lattes are on the menu now, and we're launching into it.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: But if you have not launched into it, if you're still kind of hanging on to the days of summer, if where you're at, there might be some warm weather still.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: There is not warm weather here.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's supposed to rain today, I believe.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a there's a crispness in the air, and I do like that, but it also lets us know hey, guess what?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna start getting colder, it's gonna start raining.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe where you're at, it's gonna start snowing.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So some people love that.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a big fan of that, but it is what it is ultimately.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, one of the things, let's talk about five things.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, the first thing that I think becomes important, and this isn't something that I think a lot of people do, they they think of New Year's resolutions as the time for change to take place or to make commitments to yourself.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think resetting your routine, number one, would be a great idea when you're moving into the fall, because summer tends to loosen up your schedules, right?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're wanting to be out in the lake, be out in the sun, hiking, camping, doing, and kind of there's no school.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot less rigidity with scheduling.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think one of the important things to do is to start re-establishing consistent sleep for kids, especially if they're going to school: meals, exercise, downtime, and just maybe even make a commitment to yourself that I'm gonna start putting in some new boundaries for myself.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: But now, the the challenge is to not overdo it because you don't need to overhaul everything, but pick pick one or two routines that can make life a bit more predictable.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, having kids in school is something that can help you be very predictable, because obviously there's a there's a time frame related to school or school events or after school activities, like those are things that give you clarity in in the realm of boundaries.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so if if you've got that down, well, what do your weekends look like?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because now with fall upon us, there's harvest parties, right?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Going to the pumpkin patch.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so is that something that is important to you?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: If it's not important to you, then great.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's it, but if it is important to you, put boundaries around it.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because if if you just if every weekend is just full of stuff, you're gonna get burned out.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it becomes really important to again have self-care, self-family care, even.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it can get really easy to get wrapped up with got to get the pictures at the pumpkin patch, and I oh, so and so is going to the pumpkin patch.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go, oh, so-and-so is having a harvest party, let's go to that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it would just be easy to continue on what's happened in the summer into the fall.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And my encouragement is for you to not to do that.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Number two is kind of follows up to no the reset resetting of your routine.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: But and this is a newer thing that I thought of like there's a second new year, right?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: January 1st is when everyone's like, let's make these resolutions.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I do not make resolutions, I think they're possibly silly.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're silly for me, so I don't make resolutions.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: But September can be a really good psychological reset because it's like the 90-day mark before January rolls around.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can do this reset without the pressure of the January resolution.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, what what do you want?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, the question to ask yourself is what do you want to be different by the end of this year?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what that would be for you, and then commit to doing that thing, and and I would say the thing to do is make it a realistic change.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'll be doing another podcast, I'm sure, at the end of towards the end of December, talking about New Year's resolutions.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would say the same thing there.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going to make a New Year's resolution, make it something that's realistic.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of times people set forth these really unrealistic resolutions for themselves, and then there's no wonder they that like 80% of people stop following that resolution by the time the middle of February rolls around.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so it'd be making a very simple commitment to yourself.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm not going to eat this type of food.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to take out this amount of time for myself to do this thing.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you're in a family, talk to your partner about it and and say, I want to really drill down on this thing.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: I want to lock in on whatever it is.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then your partner maybe wants to as well, and maybe you can do it together.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's always nicer to have somebody to partner with to do the thing that you're wanting to change in your life.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: It could be something as significant as not vaping anymore, not smoking.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know people that are that they worked together to stop smoking and they have stopped smoking.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just much more helpful to have a partner to do it with.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, and this is probably more in line with the Pacific Northwest where I'm at, but there's prepare for less daylight.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not sure, like I I remember there were rumblings of daylight savings time going away.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's still the case.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: I should Google that to find out.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: But in the Pacific Northwest, and I've seen it like in my office, I have windows immediately to my left, and definitely I can see the darkness coming earlier.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it is a thing that happens every year, and so I'm not surprised by it.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: I just am not a fan of it, let's say.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And because it's it's routine, it happens every year, but I don't like it because then when I'm leaving my office now in November, it's absolutely dark when I leave my office, and I wish it wasn't.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I can't live up in a place like Alaska where it's sun, there's sun all year, but then it would be sun, no sun all year as well, or part of the year, obviously.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So just prepare for less daylight.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, how what would you do?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Get outside during daylight hours, keep moving during daylight hours, resist the tendency to retreat indoors as the weather changes.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really hard in the Pacific Northwest because usually it gets stormy and cold, and so you're gonna want to you're gonna want to stay inside more.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's fairly typical of the Pacific Northwest.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so when the sun does show up, even if it's cold out, try to get outside and enjoy the vitamin D on your skin.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Try to get outside and enjoy even the coldness, but the sun and having it just kind of warm your body because ultimately that's good for your health.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: You don't you get the vitamin D into your skin and you feel better ultimately.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So prepare for less daylight.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way about it.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: You just got to prepare for it.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, reconnect intentionally.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So summer schedules definitely can scatter families and friends.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: So creating something predictable for fall would be a kind of good routine to set for yourself.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know what that would look like for you.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: A weekly dinner, a weekly coffee date with somebody, a family movie night, calls with people that you care about.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, if we think about it, in the summer, you're out and about, you're out hiking, you're out camping, you're out doing things with people with your immediate family.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then fall rolls around, winter rolls around, and people do tend to retreat more into their homes.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it becomes really important to be very intentional in reconnecting with people.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that my family did during COVID was, you know, you weren't supposed to be in touch with family indoors, you're supposed to like isolate yourself from families, and we didn't like that.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't want to isolate from family.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: So what we ended up doing was we created a space outside where family was able to connect.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we started a Thursday family dinner nights, and that's been happening for the last.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, COVID's been over for three years, two years, I don't know, probably three years-ish.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say over, like restrictions are no longer.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've been doing family dinner night on Thursdays for the last probably four or five years, and it's great.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's a time that we all know that we're gonna connect with one another.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people can make it, sometimes people can't make it.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so inevitably we have 20 to 30 people in the house because all our family lives close.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like tonight we're meeting at my brother and sister-in-law's house.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're having Chick-fil-A.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: We usually, my father-in-law pays for all the food, and then we all hang out and see the babies running around and talk about the week that people have had, and et cetera, et cetera.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, reconnecting intentionally is something I would highly encourage you to do.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it there's there's challenges posed to it, but even if you don't have family around, try to reconnect intentionally with friends that are around as well.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then then number five, let something end.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So fall is a great reminder that not everything needs to be carried into the next season of life or the next season.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's there's possibly a commitment or a habit, a resentment, an unrealistic expectation that you may have that you've been wanting to let go of, or you've been recognizing, like, why do I keep doing this?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, excuse me, tickle my throat.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, so now could be the time that you stop doing that thing.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what that thing would be for you, but you know, like when I brought it up, there is something that came to mind for you, and I would suggest the thing that came to mind for you is the thing that maybe you should let end.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I would love to hear what came to mind.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can go on Spotify.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: I I just found out that on Spotify some people have left comments.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, it was my son and my daughter's boyfriend, but I didn't know that you could leave comments on Spotify.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you can leave comments on Spotify, you can leave comments on Buzz Sprout, which is where this podcast is hosted, or you can email me directly at headshrinkinc at gmail.com.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I would love to know what is the thing that came to mind for you that was something that like probably should end this thing.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then are you going to end the thing?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest thing I think if you have a resentment towards someone, that's the thing that I would encourage you to end.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Resentment does not create positivity in your life, it just creates negativity that just brings you down, while the person that you're resentful for may not even know you're resentful about them.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then they're just kind of doing life, not weighed down by anything, this kind of feeling that you have.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so, one of the things about resentfulness is resentfulness kills any kind of like intimacy you may want to have with somebody.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to have like this conversation with people and you're resentful towards them, it makes it much more difficult to have a good conversation with them.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, so I guess I would say sometimes, you know, transitioning well isn't just about adding something, it's also about letting something go.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's hard for people to do because people are sentimental or they're nostalgic.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: It could be, and now that I think about the sentimentality that people have, it could be getting rid of something.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: You have this thing in your garage.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: I used to have a weight set in my garage.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: I got it from my next door neighbor when he moved.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I had this thing in my garage for years because you know, I had the potential of working out, the hope of working out and using it.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't do it.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so at some point I thought, I gotta get rid of this.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's just taking up room, and I'm not even using it, and I never did use it, and I ultimately got rid of it, and I haven't thought of it again till just now.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And this was probably seven years ago, seven to ten years ago that I got rid of it.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: There are other things in my house that I think, oh, I should get rid of this thing, but first there's this attachment that I have because maybe I will use this.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have a treadmill, and I have used the treadmill, but I haven't used it recently and it's just taken up space.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I it was interesting because I during COVID, you know, everyone got the Peloton.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Peloton was a big thing, and people certainly probably use the Peloton, people still probably use their Peloton, but when you use your Peloton as a place to hang clothes, it's possibly very likely that you should get rid of your Peloton.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I never had a Peloton, but I had clients that have Pelotons and they would talk to me about how they used them initially, and then they just got out of habit, and then they turned into a clothes hanging apparatus.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you have things that are doing that around your house, it's highly likely that you probably should get rid of those things because it just takes up space, and maybe someone else could be using it, or someone else would value it more.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So let something end.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I would love if you have more thoughts on what you think would be a good way to enter into the fall season.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear that from you.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can message me here, you can go over to my so I have lots of social medias.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Usually they're under DocDavid.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Just search Doc David and you'll find me.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And or headshrinkinc at gmail.com.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy fall.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a great season for you.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it just leads us to winter and Christmas.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great week.