Let’s make this autumn your best one yet! 

As the nights start drawing in, you may feel the urge to hibernate!  It is the perfect season to retreat into the warmth of your own home, hunker down, and shut the door on the world.

I’m going to talk more about things you can do to make the most of the next few months, balancing the need to be cocooned in a cosy world of your own, whilst also finding ways to have some fun and adventures for a little balance.

Most of the things I’m going to suggest you can do either with your friends, family or loved ones or on your own.

If you’re not used to doing things on your own, it can be a challenge at first. But it does get easier. Take a notebook and pen, or a good book or magazine to read, as this can help you feel less awkward if you are having lunch or dinner on your own.

Make an autumn bucket list and get some fun stuff booked in the diary

Where would you like to go this autumn? Make a list and see how many you can tick off before winter sets in! 

You could go pumpkin picking, visit an art gallery, a museum, an abbey or castle, a ghost walk, a stately home or garden, or pack an autumn picnic and watch the sunrise or set. Or go to the seaside for a bracing walk and a bag of chips!

Check out listings for pantomimes, concerts and plays. Buy your tickets and put the dates in your diary. Get your massages and reflexology treatments booked in, so you have something to look forward to.

Pack cosy blankets, a flask containing a hot drink, and some snacks and go sit somewhere without light pollution, and drink coffee or hot chocolate under the stars. Or get a food flask and take some hot soup (don’t forget to preheat the flask with boiling water and tip out before adding your soup) If it’s a nice night, take camping chairs and sit outside.

Or gather some friends around and have jacket potatoes and homemade tomato and red pepper soup, build a fire pit and toast some marshmallows, whilst telling stories around the fire. 

Try going to the cinema one weekday afternoon, on your own or with a friend and watch the first film showing! These days you can take wine or coffee into the cinema with you. Some places will even bring you pizza or snacks to your seat.

Or on a cold, wet day, why not make some homemade popcorn, put on a movie and curl up under a blanket in front of the fire if you have one! 

Create a cosy nook

Do you have a dedicated space to get cosy when the rain is blashing down the windowpane? If not, maybe now is the time to create one.

Gather up some comfy cushions, some snuggly warm blankets, a candle or warm lamp, and some fluffy socks if you’re into that kind of thing. You could include a heated throw, a hot water bottle or a heat pad. Ensure the lighting is bright enough to read by but not glaringly bright.

Get some fairy lights and string them up to make the space seem even more magical. Or if writing or art are more your thing, create yourself a cosy writing or creation station, have all your favourite pens, pencils and notebooks to hand so you can simply create when the mood strikes

If you love hot chocolate you could make yourself a hot chocolate station with mugs, hot chocolate powder, marshmallows and sprinkles, and a nice tin of biscuits.

Fancy having a crafty Christmas? 

Start creating a box of Christmas gifts for your loved ones. You could craft things out of air-dry clay. All you need for this is some air-dry clay, some simple tools, some acrylic paints to decorate your item once they’ve dried and an air dry clay sealant. 

If you like art, why not make some bookmarks, or paint pictures for your loved ones? You could get a simple frame and mount to complete the look. You can buy cellophane and ribbon to elevate the look of even the simplest of gifts.

Or go to FreePrints https://www.freeprintsapp.co.uk/ and print out your favourite photo of your loved one, frame it, and give it to them. 

Take up cosy hobbies

If you love watching TV but don’t want to just sit there for hours on end, you could take up a cosy hobby like crocheting, knitting, or pom pom making.

Or if you prefer, you could make yourself a pot of tea (so you don’t have to keep jumping up to put the kettle on!) and put on a podcast and do a jigsaw puzzle. All of these things can help your brain untangle after a busy day. There is a raft of fabulous tutorials on Youtube and TikTok if you get stuck.

Play! 

Take some autumnal photos using your phone camera. You can get different effects if you play with the portrait setting on your phone, including using the phone’s timer setting, and holding it upside down!

Try taking photos of leaves using portrait mode, or take photos of yourself hidden behind a leaf.  Experiment with catching the light behind trees, and over wall tops.

Make homemade biscuits and/or homemade soup

Two of my favourite biscuits are ginger biscuits, and melting moments. Ginger biscuits are very easy to make.  https://www.mamacoopskitchen.co.uk/ginger-biscuits/

Soups are wonderful things to make at this time of year. Not only are they a great way to get a good range of nutrients fairly quickly, they’re wonderfully soothing to make.

The chopping of the vegetables into even-sized chunks, the gentle stirring of the vegetables as they start to sweat down in the pan, the blending of the soup once it’s cooked and serving it in warm bowls, with big chunks of cheese on toast, or crunchy croutons just makes it even better. Check out my range of soup recipes here. https://www.mamacoopskitchen.co.uk/recipe-ideas/soups/ 

Let there be light this Autumn 

Don’t come back to a dark house, get your table lamps rigged up to come on around the time you’d be leaving work, so when you arrive home the house is lit up.

You can do this by getting smart plugs for your Alexa, or traditional style timer plugs, or by using smart bulbs.

If you find reaching out of bed on a morning to put the light on is too much of a challenge, try having a table lamp at the other side of your room, set to come on when you want to wake up. 

Further Reading:

https://www.sarahcooper.co.uk/autumn-self-care-tips/ 

https://www.sarahcooper.co.uk/seasonal-affective-disorder/