Here are 12 fun ways to enjoy fall and make the most of every day of the cozy season.
I wait for fall all year. But once it actually gets here, it seems to pass so quickly.
Just as I start getting excited about the mornings being cooler, November comes, and I am left wondering how come I didn’t do half the things I wanted to.
I think part of the problem is that we’re very good at looking forward to seasons, but not always very good at actually being inside them.
We save hundreds of cozy pictures, make fall bucket lists, and buy a new sweater. We tell ourselves we’ll go on that picnic when we have a free weekend.
Meanwhile, ordinary life continues doing what ordinary life does. It keeps passing by.
So, this year, I want to enjoy fall differently.
I don’t want to put pressure on myself to have the most aesthetic autumn of my life.
But I do want to notice it more, spend more time outside, make my normal days feel cozier, and do enough seasonal things that December doesn’t arrive with me wondering where fall went.
If you feel the same way, here are 12 ways to really enjoy fall while it’s here.
How To Enjoy Fall More
1. Start experiencing fall before everyone tells you to
I don’t think you need to wait until October 1st, the first fallen leaf, or some official declaration from the weather gods before you’re allowed to start enjoying fall.
If September arrives and you’re ready, begin.
- Bring out the mugs.
- Start reading the atmospheric books.
- Change your playlist.
- Make cinnamon toast.
- Buy the cardigan you’ve been eyeing.
- Watch the movie that makes you want to live in a tiny New England town despite never having been to one.
The start of fall (and even the days leading up to it) is more magical than fall itself.
The transition period is beautiful to witness, so don’t rush through it waiting for real fall. The anticipation is part of the season too.
2. Spend as much time outside as you possibly can
This is probably the most important thing on this list, so pay attention.
Fall is happening outside.
And if you spend September through November mostly moving between your house, car, office, shops, and back home again, you’re going to miss a huge part of it.
You don’t need to go hiking through an orange forest every weekend to experience autumn. Just start choosing outside more often.
- Take your coffee onto the balcony.
- Go on an evening walk.
- Eat lunch outside.
- Read on a park bench.
- Walk somewhere instead of driving when you can.
- Meet your friend in a park instead of another indoor cafe.
If you can walk to places, then you’ll get to watch the same trees change over time.
One day everything might look green, then you’ll notice patches of yellow, and eventually the entire place will be covered in autumn.
That’s the kind of fall memory you want—not just the things you deliberately planned, but the season quietly changing around your life.
3. Find your fall spot
Pick one place near you that feels exceptionally nice during this time of year and make it your fall spot.
It could be a tree-lined walking path, a quiet park, a cafe with outdoor seating, a little bookstore, a bench beside a lake, or a street that looks beautiful when the leaves start changing.
Then keep going back to it.
We sometimes put so much pressure on ourselves to constantly discover new places that we miss how lovely it is to become familiar with one.
You’ll notice things you wouldn’t notice on a single visit, like which trees change first, what time the evening light looks prettiest, and when you need to start bringing a jacket.
Eventually, simply going there will start feeling like fall.
4. Give yourself something seasonal to look forward to every week
Don’t just make one gigantic fall bucket list that you have to finish in three weeks. Spread the fun out!
Every week, put one fall thing on your calendar.
One week, go on a long walk somewhere beautiful. The next week, bake apple crumble.
Fill every week of the season with one fall activity like these.
Have a movie night, visit a bookstore, make soup, go thrifting for a sweater, have a fall picnic, visit the pumpkin patch, and invite your friend over for hot chocolate.
Anticipation makes life so much more fun.
If you know you’re going somewhere pretty on a Saturday morning, your normal week will feel pretty too.
This proves that you don’t need endless exciting plans. You just need a little something coming up.
5. Let your food change with the season
One of the easiest ways to enjoy life during any season is to eat differently during it.
Fall is your excuse to bring back all the things that were too warm and heavy for summer:
Soups, baked potatoes, roasted vegetables, warm bread, cinnamon toast, apple crumble, creamy pasta, pancakes on slow mornings, and hot chocolate at night.
Eat dishes that make colder weather feel good to you!
You could also pick three or four recipes that you only make during fall.
After a few years, those foods will start becoming part of the season in your own home.
That’s much more special to me than trying 27 pumpkin recipes because Pinterest said I should.
6. Create a fall uniform
Fall fashion is one of the best parts of the season, but you don’t need an entirely new wardrobe to enjoy it.
Create a combination that makes you feel good and wear some version of it constantly.
Maybe yours is straight-leg jeans, fitted top, oversized cardigan, and loafers.
Or a long skirt, sweater, and boots.
Or leggings, giant sweatshirt, and cute socks on your extremely casual days.
To make your fall uniform more personalized and interesting, add something that makes it feel especially you, like a brooch on your cardigan, a ribbon in your hair, gold jewelry, a favorite scarf, or a nice bag.
I think repeating outfits can make a season feel more nostalgic later.
You see a picture from that year and immediately think, Oh my god, I wore that sweater everywhere that fall.
That’s cute, and a wonderful way to let yourself have eras.
7. Romanticize a habit you already do
You don’t need to add twelve new hobbies to your life just because it’s fall.
Take something you’re already doing and make the fall version of it. Basically, romanticize a habit with a fall twist.
Your weekly grocery trip can include wandering through the seasonal aisle and buying one baked treat.
Your workout can become a long outdoor walk on beautiful days.
Your Sunday cleaning can happen with an old playlist playing and something baking in the oven.
Your evening TV time can involve a giant blanket, popcorn, and all the lights turned low.
Your morning coffee can be ten minutes with a fantasy book instead of ten minutes scrolling.
This is such a brilliant tip because it doesn’t require finding more time.
You’re simply making the time you’re already spending feel better and more in sync with the season.
8. Give yourself a little fall project
Every season becomes more memorable when you have something you’re slowly working on throughout it.
And I don’t mean a serious self-improvement project at all. I mean something fun.
Here are some ideas:
- Start a 1,000-piece puzzle and leave it out all month.
- Crochet a scarf.
- Press leaves inside a notebook.
- Work your way through a fantasy series.
- Learn to bake bread.
- Knit a sweater.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Watch an old TV series from beginning to end.
- Try one new soup every Sunday.
Pick something you can return to whenever you have a quiet evening.
By the end of fall, you’ll have something that belongs specifically to that chapter of your life.
And unlike scrolling for three hours, you’ll probably remember doing it.
9. Stop saving cozy things for the perfect day
One of the easiest ways to accidentally waste a season is to keep saving everything for some future perfect day.
You wait for the day you have no work, the house is spotless, the weather is perfect, and everyone is available.
But that day is extremely unreliable, and most importantly, it’s not here! What’s here is today.
So, use your nice and cozy things today.
Wear the soft sweater, light the expensive candle, use the pretty mug, bake the cookies on a free evening, and turn on the fairy lights every evening at 4 p.m.
Make hot chocolate even though nobody is coming over.
There is no day like the present to enjoy life.
10. Make social plans that suit the season
Fall is such a good time to make your social life feel more wholesome.
But don’t just default to dinner or drinks. Invite people into the season with you.
You can:
- Go on a long walk and get coffee afterward.
- Have friends over to bake something.
- Plan a movie night where everyone brings a snack.
- Go thrifting.
- Have a tiny bonfire if you have somewhere safe to do it.
- Visit a farmers’ market.
- Cook dinner together.
You can even throw a cozy and close-knit fall party. Two people drinking hot chocolate and carving pumpkins together still counts.
As someone who does this every year with her brother and best friend, I highly recommend it.
11. Take pictures of the ordinary parts too
You are obviously going to take a picture of your coffee order at a fancy cafe.
But also photograph your half-finished coffee beside your book, your friend walking ten feet ahead of you, and the soup you made.
Take a photo of your dog in a pile of leaves, your cozy socks, the rainy view from your window, and the slightly burnt cookies you ate anyway.
Basically, take pictures of your fall. You don’t have to post any of them.
I think we’re so used to photographing things for social media that we forget to click pictures to remember our own lives.
At the end of November, you can put your favorites into an album on your phone or print them out.
12. Don’t rush into winter
This might be the hardest one, because the Internet is always six weeks ahead of real life.
You’re enjoying October, and suddenly your feed is covered in Christmas trees. November arrives, and everyone is talking about new year’s resolutions.
It can make you feel like the season you’re currently living in is already over. But my friend, don’t let it be that way.
There will be plenty of time for Christmas movies, winter routines, holiday decorating, and thinking about the person you want to be next year.
For now, let November be November.
Keep taking your fall walks, making soup, and keep reading your autumn books.
Keep wearing the cardigan you’ve practically fused with at this point.
You waited all year for this season, and you don’t need to leave it early just because the Internet did.
Let Yourself Have a Really Good Fall
Enjoying fall doesn’t require an amazing trip, a perfect wardrobe, a beautifully decorated house, or a schedule packed with seasonal activities.
What you want instead is to reach the end of the season and feel like you were actually there for it. And the tips in this post will help you do just that.
So, pick a few ideas from this list and make them yours.
Go outside more, make the soup, and call your friend and make a fun autumnal plan.
Fall doesn’t last very long. You might as well be completely and ridiculously into it while it’s here.
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