September and channeling the back to school fresh start

I wasn’t prepared for how the new month of September would make me feel. I vividly remember the excitement of going back to school with a new pencil case and whatever bag was most fashionable that year (does anyone remember Jane Norman?!) but I haven’t personally experienced that fresh start feeling of September for years now. Others have cited it year on year and I’ve been so jealous I hadn’t felt that pang of renewal, but this year it just hit me like a ton of bricks, if that ton of bricks was made from clouds because that feeling was lovely.

I think it was to do with the fact that it basically started on a new week (the 2nd September was a Monday, so it still felt new), my boyfriend Jay, is a teacher so he was going back to school for the first time in a few weeks so the morning routine was back to normal and the sun was shining but there was a definite autumnal chill in the air. All of those factors clubbed together really gave me an air of fresh-start-you-can-do-anything kinda vibes and I’m living for it.

I just want to refresh everything and do all of the things inside my head and get all of the ideas brewing out on paper, but I need to slow down and do it in a healthy and manageable way. So a few things I’ve been trying to stick to this past week to keep the momentum going have really made me feel like I’m a kid again and back at school after 6 weeks off even though I only had one week’s holiday over summer.

Dress the part

Much like getting a new school uniform for the year, Autumn is a great time to be upgrading the wardrobe, or even just mixing up the colours or items you’ve been wearing for the past few weeks. Channeling the darker colours in my wardrobe and choosing a nice new lipstick from my collection have made all the difference to me this week.

Get organised

Plan plan and more planning. Writing things down is my way of life and I live mine by my phone calendar. Setting reminders to do things later as and when they pop up into my head has really helped and I’ve started some proper lists on paper of blog post ideas, photos I need to take and snippets of things I want to remember. If there’s any excuse for new stationary, a new “school year” is definitely one of them! Being back in a normal routine is really helping me get into an organised head space too. I’ve taken time out to go through all of my outstanding emails and ticked off jobs I’ve been meaning to do for ages but have been putting off and it feels goood.

Prep food

I’ve gotten myself back on track with my slimming world plan after losing a stone already, so this week I’ve been making sure I’m making lunch the evening before or over-making dinner so I have leftovers to take with me to work. This makes sure I’m eating healthy and not spending unnecessary money on lunches I can make at home and saving pennies always helps as buying lunch can really add up! We also have a meal planning whiteboard with days of the week where at the beginning of the week before we do our Sunday food shop, we are writing down the days that Jay and I will be eating together and what we will be having so we can plan ahead and there are no last minute dashes to the shop or excuses to turn to unhealthy options.

Learn something new

I work in Marketing now, which isn’t what I’m “qualified” to do (or so a piece of paper with my law degree on says) so I need to make sure, as with any job really, that I’m always up to date with trends and goings on, which also helps with my blog too. I’ve been carving out time to plan and listen to webinars and podcasts so I’m learning new things and refreshing the knowledge I already have, which feels like being back at school but instead of Algebra, it’s tips on how to write a good press release, or the latest Insta algorithm which is much more fun IMO.

Do you feel the same fresh start vibes when September rolls around? What do you do to channel the back to school feeling? Let me know!

Related: Summer Holiday Beauty Picks