There’s something about autumn that makes staying in bed all day feel like a perfectly reasonable life choice. The days get shorter, the rain becomes a regular guest, and suddenly, leaving the house feels like a task that deserves its own calendar invite. Before you know it, your evening plans consist of scrolling for three hours, putting off everything on your to-do list, and promising yourself you’ll get your life together tomorrow. Alexa, play Spiral SZN by JoJo.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with slowing down when the weather turns grey. Autumn is made for cosy evenings, comfort food and spending a little more time at home. But there’s a difference between enjoying a slower pace and letting every rainy day turn into a reason to feel a bit rubbish. Sometimes, all it takes is a few small changes to make the season feel less gloomy.
And no, we’re not about to reveal some groundbreaking secret to happiness. Most of us already know what helps us feel better. We know we should get some fresh air, make our spaces feel nice and spend less time mindlessly scrolling. The problem is that knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things. We save the Pinterest inspiration, tell ourselves we’ll start tomorrow, and somehow end up doing the exact same thing the next day. So, consider this your little reminder to stop waiting for the perfect moment and start with the small things.
1. Make Your Space Feel Like Somewhere You Actually Want to Be
When it’s cold, dark and raining outside, your surroundings can make all the difference. If you’re going to spend more time indoors, you might as well make your space somewhere you genuinely enjoy being. Think warm lighting, fresh bedding, your favourite blanket, a nice candle and a few episodes of Gilmore Girls.
You don’t need to give your room a complete makeover or spend half your paycheck on autumn decorations. Sometimes, tidying your bedside table, putting on fresh sheets or making yourself a proper cup of tea or coffee is enough to change the mood. It’s less about creating a picture-perfect Pinterest bedroom and more about making your everyday surroundings feel a bit more comforting. After all, if you’re going to spend the evening at home, you might as well make it a good one.
2. Go for a Walk, Even When the Weather Isn’t Giving
Going for a walk might be the most predictable piece of advice ever, but there’s a reason people keep suggesting it. When you’ve been indoors all day, staring at a screen and overthinking every minor inconvenience, getting outside can help break up the cycle. You don’t need to embark on a three-hour countryside hike or suddenly become the kind of girl who gets ten thousand steps before breakfast. A short walk around your neighbourhood counts, too.
Put on a decent coat, grab your headphones, make a playlist you actually want to listen to and head outside for twenty minutes. Notice the changing leaves, stop by your favourite coffee shop or take the slightly longer route home. And if it’s drizzling, take an umbrella. You’re allowed to enjoy autumn without pretending you’re in a rain-soaked period drama. The goal isn’t to turn every walk into a life-changing experience. It’s simply to get some fresh air, move your body and remind yourself that there’s a world beyond your bedroom walls.
3. Find a Book That Matches Your Autumn Mood
There’s something particularly appealing about curling up with a good book when the evenings get darker. It gives you something to look forward to that doesn’t involve refreshing the same three apps or accidentally losing an hour to someone else’s TikTok feed. The trick is finding a book that suits your mood, rather than choosing one because everyone online insists you should read it.
And really, that’s what these little changes are about. Not reinventing ourselves every time the seasons change, but making a conscious effort to enjoy our everyday lives, even when our mood, motivation or energy levels aren’t quite where we’d like them to be. It’s easy to fall into a routine of doing the bare minimum, putting things off until tomorrow and waiting for that feeling of being back on track to magically arrive. Before we know it, days turn into weeks, and we’re left wondering where the time went.
Perhaps that’s what making Spiral SZN a little less spirally really comes down to: remembering that we don’t have to feel our best to make the most of our days. We can have a slower week without letting it become a slower month. We can have days when we’d rather do absolutely nothing without making that our default. And we can find little things to look forward to, even when life feels a little less exciting than usual.
We don’t have to love every part of autumn, nor do we need to turn every day into some perfectly romanticised version of reality. But there’s a whole season of life happening between now and spring, and it deserves to be lived, not simply endured. Because the last thing we want is to look back and realise we spent an entire season waiting for it to be over.
