I Actually Love October

I forgot how beautiful October is.  This is probably the only month in the “colder” months that I like.  I live in a place where we have many beautiful, changing trees this time of year.  My city is surrounded by state forest on all sides, so it’s really gorgeous right now.  I’m definitely sad about summer being over, but it’s still very warm right now and there isn’t much humidity, so it’s more enjoyable to be outside.  K and I decided to go to the golf course yesterday, where I took the leaf pictures. 

The weather has been perfect this weekend and I love being outside when the weather is like this. It makes my mood so much better. I always try to get a little bit of nature in my life every day. I think it’s something important to do for all of us. There’s so much healing in sunshine and fresh air.

That being said, I have been preparing myself of the colder months.  I always have difficulty during the colder months, when illness is more common.  The only way I get through this time is to engage in activities that take my mind off of this.  For some reason, I have more difficulty getting my computer out and writing on my blog. I hate that I’m so bad at keeping up with it and I haven’t been inspired to write anything about mental health, but I wanted to share some of things that I do during my “difficult” months that help me to cope.  I’ve come up with a few things that I use to cope with my anxiety at this time:

• Crocheting. I’ve started crocheting again!  I don’t like to crochet in the warmer months because I can be outside and I get too hot when crocheting. I’m so happy to be doing it again, but this year I’m not going to make anything for Christmas gifts. That takes the fun out of it for me. Currently, I am working on a vintage, mod dress pattern and this picture is a bit older, so since I took it I’ve gotten a lot more done: 
• Reading. To me, there is nothing cozier and more comforting then reading a good book, wrapped in a soft blanket, and with a  warm cup of coffee.  I have a Kindle, but I’m going through this “real book” kick. We have a discount book store and I stocked up on $3 books for the coming months ahead. When I really like a story, I read slowly because I don’t want it to end, so I am still on a book that I’ve been reading since nearly the beginning of the summer and I’m ok with that.
• Watching a Good Show. I love to watch a good series, usually on Netflix, so that I can watch continuously. I can’t stand to wait weeks for a new episode.
• Enjoying the Seasonal Things. This seems weird, but what I mean is, I try to find the things that I liked as a kid and that remind me of what I used to like during the different seasons. For awhile, i got away from that.  October is actually my favorite month because of Halloween. I love spooky and creepy things and try to really embrace that during this time of year. Also, I love pumpkin flavored things, or cinnamon.  Anything that smells/tastes like the spices used in a lot of foods this time of year.  I love to watch ghost movies or paranormal shows. Currently, I’m trying to convince K to go on a ghost tour with me. I haven’t been successful yet because that kind of thing scares him.  I’m still working on it though.

Well, those are just some of the things I was able to come up with.  I really wanted to write this post so that I could remind myself of the warm and comforting things I can do to make my anxiety better this time of year.  What sort of things do you do to cope with anxiety? It doesn’t even have to be just in the colder months. Please share if you can :)

Thank you for reading and enjoy the pretty leaves!

Megan