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Healthy, Slow Living Ideas for Fall

Autumn is a great time to reset. It’s an ideal time as nature slows down for us to do the same. Use these healthy, slow living ideas for Fall as a jumping off point to create your own simple living habits and priorities. 

A pumpkin with cinnamon sticks, fall leaves, fruit, and nuts on a table with text overlay.

Do See Fall Color

Do make it a point to see and watch how the earth is changing during this season. Do not make it a high pressure event that means traveling to somewhere far away. If you want to travel, that’s great but it is not a requirement. 

Rather pay attention to how the earth is changing where you live. This is the essence of simple, seasonal living. How the season exists and changes on a daily basis where we spend the majority of our time. 

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Go for a walk around your neighborhood. Take a hike in a local park. Pay attention to how things change. Some of us live where the leaves are vibrant hues others not so much. Both have beauty and lessons if we just look. 

And while we can, of course, take a drive to see fall color. Whenever possible, try to do it by walking. The walking is a great exercise to keep our bodies healthy but it’s also slower. It means we can’t just speed through on our way to do something else. We have to slow down our bodies and pay attention. 

An apple with red and green leaves on the grass.

Make & Eat Homemade Soups

Soups can be quick or they can be slow cooked. Make some of each. Keep them healthy and full of seasonal fall produce

A bowl of sweet potato stew.

Take the time to do as much from scratch as possible. Make the soup broth. Chop the veggies. Make egg noodles. And let it all cook low and slow until it’s time eat. Eat from the good bowls sitting down at the table to savor it.

Do this if you’re cooking for only yourself or for a crowd. 

The thing about eating soup is that it they can be easy introductions to whole foods and clean eating in a simple, tasty bowl. There’s not much fuss. Toss bits of protein, veggies, grains in a hot both and enjoy. And know that it’s nourishing body and soul.

A soup in a bowl of lentil bacon soup on a tablecloth.

The simplicity of it is also a great way to bring simple and slow living into the kitchen as well. Sure there’s time to chop veggies or meat but overall soups are less prep than many meals and the slow cooking can mean that we’re at home just being without rushing. 

Drink Something Hot

Keep it mostly healthy. There are times to indulge in hot chocolate or sweet fancy coffee drinks or hot toddies. However, but indulging every day or multiple times a day isn’t likely to help us maintain health consistently. 

Blue tin cup full of hot chocolate on a placemat.

Hot drinks have a way of slowing us down. We wrap our hands around them to warm up when we’re cold. The heat alone requires careful and slow tasting. It’s a great way to encourage slowness in an otherwise fast paced day.

Drink things merely for flavor. Things you enjoy black tea with honey, coffee with cream, chai tea, hot mulled cider, etc. 

 Have a cup of herbal tea for the health benefits they provide. Mint tea to soothe an upset stomach. Chamomile to encourage sleep.

Mint tea blends with tea ball and honey photograph.

Make it a daily ritual. A time to sit and plan for the day ahead or to reflect on the day that has passed. Do it in the afternoon as a way to connect with someone else. 

Gather Bits of Nature

This is not an excuse to gather unnecessary items or stockpile potential craft projects. Rather, it’s an opportunity to bring the outside in for celebration and beauty. 

The great thing about doing it this way is that you can bring in a few pine cones or rocks or interesting branches. Use them for centerpieces or mantel decorations for a few weeks or the season and then simply toss them into the compost heap when you’re done or over it. 

A strand of waxed dipped leaves garland

You can, of course, create more elaborate crafts with these bits of nature. Dip leaves in wax for a decorative garland.

Drill holes into a large branch for a rustic yet functional candle holder.

Gather acorn tops for a felted project perfect for decor and added touches to gift baskets. 

This is an exercise in slowing down as well. It means that as we walk in nature we look for things we want to bring into our homes. This gathering makes us slow down and pay attention to what’s around us rather than just moving through nature. 

Log branch candle holders with white taper candles lit sitting on a table runner.

Slowing down our movements and paying attention to nature is only likely to have positive effect on our mental and physical well-being. 

Forage for Food & Medicine

Along with gathering bits of nature for crafting, forage for food and medicine. Again keep it slow and intentional. This is not about becoming fully self-sufficient necessarily. It’s simply about providing a few things for yourself and your family. 

Push through that anxiety that you must do all the things and just focus on one or two things that can be mostly done in an afternoon or two.

Want to increase immunity in the fall and winter? Gather rose hips and dry them for a vitamin C heavy herbal tea.

Red rose hips for food and medicine still on the rosebush.

Need something to help with insomnia? Dig up valerian roots for tincture making

Spend an afternoon picking wild apples and can up some applesauce.

Gather some acorns and try your hand at making acorn flour.

Chunky applesauce in a bowl with a spoon sitting in front of fresh apples with a napkin.

Remember to keep these activities and fun and connecting to the earth, to yourself, and to loved ones. It should NOT be another exercise in pressure or stress. Foraging in this season should be simply about healthy, slow living. 

Keep a Journal

Some of us are writers and some of us are not.  Always be true to yourself. 

A traditional journal is a written record but there is no reason why anyone should feel bound by that tradition. A journal can be a collection of photographs or drawings. It can be paper, it can be electronic.

Do what works for you and make no apologies for that. 

A closed journal with pen on top.

I’m not much of a traditional journal-keeper myself. I don’t work out emotions or feelings in a journal.

I do, however, like to keep notes. Notes on recipes or nature, the garden, or foraging spots. I jot down things I want to remember, things to change, and more. That works for me and if a diary-style journal doesn’t work for you, perhaps note-taking / record-keeping will

For many people, keeping a journal is a great way to just clear the head of emotions and thoughts. That clearing of the head helps us slow down and often helps people deal with anxiety and other issues.

Experiment and find out what works best for you. Keep it low pressure and honestly just play. Make it a habit or a ritual. Journal while drinking something hot as a way to start or end each day. 

A photo collage of fall leaves and a cat with a rake surrounded by fall leaves with text overlay.

These habits aren’t likely to reverse any kind of disease. Nor are they the complete answer to an overbooked and over-stressed life. However by practicing these healthy, slow living ideas you can find a little more peace and well-being in your day. 

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Tracy

Sunday 13th of October 2019

Very timely post for me! I entered the Autumn season feeling frenzied and disconnected. I've been putting some new plans into place to get back to myself. This is the perfect season for it.

I am so glad you listed making homemade soup as one of the ways to slow down and replenish. It's such an overlooked therapeutic act - one with many rewards. I love making homemade soup and have decided to make some new (to me) types of soup this fall. I'm looking forward to doing it!

Happy Autumn to you!

SHERRY JOHNSON

Wednesday 4th of September 2019

I am a new subscriber and joined because I want to live in each season and need some ideas to get motivated. You have done exactly that with this post. Thank you.

Kathie Lapcevic

Wednesday 4th of September 2019

Oh, I'm so glad to hear it. Thanks so much for joining in!

Pebble Tedford

Wednesday 4th of September 2019

I so enjoy just reading your posts. They alone relax me! Thank you.

Kathie Lapcevic

Wednesday 4th of September 2019

Wow, what a sweet thing to say. Thank you!