Hi Pretties! I’m back for the Fall Coffee Chat season, well unofficially back. There’s been so much going on and so many fun things on the horizon for GYPO and I can’t wait to share it all with you. We’ve moved, I finally put together a Menswear Closet Staples Capsule, the kids are starting school again and I’m excited about the upcoming season of Coffee Chat. A huge thank you to everyone who submitted a topic of something they want to know or learn about.
As we head into fall I usually use this as a time to reset and to think about my intentions as typically the kids are back off to school and new routines emerge. But looking back, that seems to be what 2020 has been all about, dealing with the uncertainty, adapting to situations we’ve never experienced before trying to create some consistency in the chaos. So even though this fall is unlike any other, I’m still going to use this time to hit the reset button and attempt to create some consistency. Click below to view my full Coffee Chat.
I’m not a very big resolutions girl but I use September as an opportunity to reset and get back into a routine coming off summer break but of course, this year is so different and I know it’s not just me, it’s all of us. We’re all going through it, this feeling of being out of control wondering what each day is going to hold. Everything looks different this year. That’s why I wanted to share with you tips that have been helping me through the summer, mentally, to stay focused and to really calm my anxiety around everything that feels so out of control right now.
1. Establish Some New Routines
With all the chaos that’s has been going on, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Now is the time to really be intentional about establishing new routines and having more control over our lives. It’s about shifting our focus to the things that we can control. I think that if you take anything out of today’s coffee chat, I want it to be that you absolutely can’t control everything, but there are a few things that you can and one of those is to establish a new routine. When you establish a routine you’re creating a comfort zone that will naturally help alleviate some of the anxiety that we’re feeling. Take this opportunity right now as we’re heading into the fall to really step back and look at ways that you can create new routines in your life, whether it’s waking up at the same time every day or creating a routine around some self-care time, meditating, whatever will help give your day some intentional flow and take back some of the control.
2. Get Moving
One of my intentions for fall is to get moving again! I need to hit the reset button on exercise. Things got away from me this summer and I gained 10 pounds, actually, I gained 15 at one point due to some medication but I compounded that by not being intentional about the meals I was planning and not focusing on my workouts. I used to do Orange Theory in class but without that accountability of having to be somewhere at a certain time it’s made it way more difficult to stay on track but it’s something I’m working on. Exercising definitely helps me with my mental state and to get back into a better routine and a better place.
3. Limit the Negativity – News/Social Media
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with social media. I have been really open about this, which is weird as a blogger, as an influencer, as somebody who appears online on a regular basis, I don’t particularly enjoy social media. I would much prefer to connect with people in real life however right now social media has been a tool for me to be able to have that connection whenever I can’t have that one on one interaction I so crave. At times however, it’s just become such a, well, I’m just going to say it, just such an energy suck. That’s the best way I can describe it right now. It’s definitely not a place of positivity and just a few minutes on my newsfeed was sucking the life out of me. It’s easy to fall into a downward spiral. One of the things I had to do was to start curating my feed and I encourage you to do the same. It’s okay to snooze people, to block people, or to unfriend them. It’s okay to create an Instagram feed that fills our soul which is exactly what I’ve done. I fill it with inspirational quotes, with home decor since we just moved, with our Pretties, with positivity! So take back your control over social media. That goes for the news too. Set up alerts for breaking news or set a time frame in which you’re going to watch it but don’t let it be a steady stream sucking out your energy.
4. Find Things That Fill Your Soul
Now that your social media is filled with things that make you smile, it’s time to find other things that fill your soul. This is a great time for exploration and figuring out some things that you may have long forgotten about that you love. Every year around this time I revisit my love of the piano. Last year, if you recall, I started taking lessons again. I fell off with that because obviously we can’t do in-person lessons right now but I’ve been going on YouTube and watching videos. I even ordered a couple of music books to work on. I find playing the piano is another thing that really calms me down. I love sitting down to the piano in the evening and have found that to be a great routine when it comes to ending my day. My playing doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s something that really feeds my soul. I’ve also gotten back into doing yoga again. I’ve been doing classes online and now we live in a beautiful natural environment by the lake, so I can get out and enjoy nature. I also plan on riding my bike this fall when it’s not ridiculously hot outside. It’s so important to feed your soul every day, even if it’s just for a small amount of time. What are you going to do to feed your soul today?
5. Remember, Nothing Lasts Forever
I think another tip that has really been helping me is just this reminder that nothing lasts forever, the good or the bad. Just keep in mind that what we’re experiencing right now is not going to last forever. Yes, there will be a new normal, but what’s going on right now is not going to be a forever state. So just keep that in mind. You have the power to choose how you see things. I’m not saying you have to be a Pollyanna but you also don’t have to be an Eeyore. You’ll have your ups and your downs and that’s totally normal. It’s okay to be the rock of your family because you are strong and fierce but it’s also okay to let your guard down and admit that this all just really sucks. For example, I call myself the quarantine clown sometimes because I think that my job is to be the one who’s always upbeat and positive and energetic. I try to entertain everybody and try to keep everybody happy, always pointing out the positive things about everything that’s going on right now. But that can be truly damaging, as damaging as as as being on the flip side of that and having the negativity and applying the negative to everything and seeing it as all bad. So I implore you to strive for that balance.
Setting My Intentions
Getting back to my original point, I want to talk to you about setting intentions for fall and I’m going to share my two big intentions with you. While I feel that getting into a routine is super important we’ll talk a little bit more about that later on in our Coffee Chat topics, I think it’s just as important to have a bigger purpose in all of this and when we set intentions it helps everything else fall in line.
1. Create space and time for things that fulfill my soul daily.
I already talked to you a little bit about this whether it’s pecking on the piano, doing some yoga, exercising, spending my devotion time on the porch swing every day, walks in nature, those are some important things to me to get back in touch with myself because I think a lot of us have been in, some are on the flip side of this, but many of us have been quarantined with family, and even though you’re with people, maybe you don’t necessarily feel as connected to them, which is going to be my second intention I’m going to share with you in a minute and you might even feel a little bit disconnected from yourself. So I think that it’s important for us to reconnect with ourselves.
2. Connect with my family better.
I think one of the things about spending a lot of time with each other is that we have overlooked quality time a little bit and I want to reset the button on that. I want us to have family game nights once a week. One of my favorite things that we do is we sit down to dinner at night and share a highlight and lowlight from our day, which really is kind of one of those Pollyanna and Eeyore moments. The funny thing that I find about this is that some people have a natural tendency in our family to focus on only the positive and some have a natural tendency to focus on the negative more and when we do this, it forces us to focus on both. This is a great connection tool for us because it enables us to be vulnerable and allows us to not only connect with each other, but it also helps me to be a role model for my kids and saying it’s OK to struggle and we need to share these things with each other.
So those are my two big things that I’m going to be focusing on this fall. Now it’s your turn! I want you to get your fall routine into place but before you do that, I want you to really sit down this today, tomorrow, this weekend, and listen to your gut and your instinct. What is it telling you you need to do this fall to really get back to basics, to reset your intentions and to focus on what you can control because setting your intentions is absolutely something that you do have control over!
Coming Soon!
5 Day Closet Clean Out Challenge! Sign up here!
Whether you’ve done it before or this is your first time, the Closet Clean Out Challenge is a great way to hit the reset button on your wardrobe. We do this FREE challenge as a community in our Facebook group but you have to sign up for the daily email exercises HERE. This fall’s challenge will take place August 24th-28th. Clean your closet out in bite sized daily chunks with me – I promise I’ll make it fun!
Menswear Closet Staples Capsule Available Now!
You’ve been asking for it and the big day is finally here! The Menswear Closet Staples Capsule Wardrobe is a year-round capsule wardrobe with 76 outfit formulas, including work wear and athleisure. The best part? It’s ON SALE for $10 off but HURRY this introductory price end Aug 26th!
Outfit Formulas Fall 2020 Capsule Wardrobe is Coming September 4th!
Just in time to take advantage of Labor Day sales, the Outfit Formulas Fall 2020 Capsule wardrobe features 31 of my favorite fall outfit formulas with 4 bonus athleisure looks. It’s a great mix of classic fall styles and trends. Let me tell you what to wear every day this fall!
