Yes, we’re already doing so many things, it can feel like an impossible task to add on one more thing, even if it’s “Enjoy the fall season!”

But we can do both.

I love fall—it’s still warm, but there’s a change in the air.

It feels like a new beginning…even though it’s technically an ending to the bountiful season of summer.

Nothing is frantic yet.

The holidays are still miles away.

So, what’s the best way to slow down time?

I learned long ago to put stops in your routine.

Stops that signal “here’s something different!”

Kind of like speed bumps.

With that in mind, here are 30 days of tiny speed bumps, one for each day of September—while still making headway on what’s important to you. (And there’s not a Pumpkin Spiced Latte in sight.)

1 = Labor Day.

Spend the day laboring as you wish or not at all.

2 = Jot down in your notebook what you want to accomplish this month.

3 = Spend time outside and take a photo of the nearest deciduous tree.

4 = Go to your favorite coffee house and take your notebook.

Write down four details that you see, hear, taste, smell, or feel.

5 = Take a walk in the evening.

Does it feel like autumn to you yet?

6 = Take yourself to the library.

Grab a bunch of titles that sound good (yes, go ahead and judge a book by its cover) and bring them back to a table.

Don’t rush off.

Skim read and choose a couple to take home.

7 = Declutter your desk.

Get it ready for creating.

8 = Take the easiest, tiniest first step toward accomplishing a goal this month.

9 = Journal how it felt when you were 12 and had to go back to school after summer vacation.

10 = Go back to that nearest deciduous tree.

Take another photo of it.

11 = Whatever your interests are, there’s a free webinar for that.

Find one.

Add it to your calendar.

DON’T FORGET TO WATCH IT!

12 = That coffee shop you went to last week?

Go there again.

Write down four different details.

13 = Take a drive somewhere, anywhere.

It could be a city, the ocean, the mountains.

Look at it as if you’re a tourist.

Do you notice anything that you maybe never saw (heard, smelled, felt) before?

The wind in your hair.

The quality of the light.

The different bird sounds.

14 = Watch an old movie, preferably black and white.

(How about: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Lion in Winter, The Birds.)

Then watch a new movie.

If there’s a remake of whatever you just watched, watch that.

Note how times have changed.

The acting.

The dialogue.

The storyline.

The movie sets.

Which do you prefer—movies now or then?

15 = Take the next tiniest step toward accomplishing your goal.

16 = What was your favorite brown bag lunch when you were in school?

Make it and take it outside somewhere to enjoy.

17 = You know that deciduous tree?

Go back to it and take another photo.

18 = Have you been reading the books you brought home from the library?

19 = Go back to that coffee shop…or another one.

Write down four different details.

20 = When’s the last time you went to a local museum?

Take yourself there on a date.

Buy something unusual at the gift shop.

21 = Hallmark movies anyone?

Watch on mute and create your own dialogue.

Chances are good, your dialogue and the actual dialogue are similar.

22 = Make some more strides towards your monthly goals.

23 = In your notebook, write a story idea or a Haiku or an acrostic poem.

If you’re an artist, sketch something from your imagination or that’s outside your window.

If you’re a musician, skip the journal, and play your instrument or a selection of your favorite type of music.

24 = Go back to that deciduous tree and take its picture again.

25 = Finish up those library books.

It’s almost time to return them.

26 = Guess what?

It’s coffee shop time.

Write down four different details.

27 = Time to return those library books.

Choose a new selection.

Bring home a couple.

28 = If it’s starting to feel like fall, bake

 or roast or simmer something in your favorite end-of-summer/fall flavors.

29 = Keep going with your monthly goals!

All you need to do is the next step.

30 = Go back to that deciduous tree.

Take a final photo.

Line up all five of them. Do you see subtle signs that autumn is arriving?

These suggestions are by no means earth shaking.

But I think they’ll stop the days from zipping by too quickly.

We’re all just marching toward the same thing.

Make it intentional.

Make it count.

Enjoy your week,

~ Gail

(Tick tock)

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