5 Ways to Unwind This Fall

When fall comes around, many people are thinking about sweater weather and enjoying a nice cup of a hot drink snuggled up around the fire. Or perhaps they are thinking about going outside to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect plump pumpkin to take inside and carve with the family. Some people imagine the colors of the leaves changing and others the smell of pumpkin spice lattes. Whatever fall is for you, here are just five ways that you can unwind and enjoy this beautiful season.

Read a Book

When it starts to get chilly outside, it's the perfect time to curl up inside with a soft blanket and read a good book. With the fast-paced world around you, doesn't it sound so nice to escape for a while and slow down to read? Reading is a hobby that many kids enjoy, while unfortunately many adults get too bogged down with other things to do and rarely read a book. Now is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the cold weather outside and immerse yourself in a fictional world.

Enjoy a Nice Cup of Tea

There are so many different varieties of tea out there. With tea being part of the culture in all sorts of areas and continents around the world, it's no wonder the options are so vast. Whether you like black tea, green tea, Pu'er tea, mint tea, hibiscus tea, or even tea made from CBD flower or hemp oil, you can make a good cup to warm your hands with and sit on the couch watching a nice movie. Options are available for both loose-leaf tea and tea bags. If you aren't too familiar with how to make the perfect cup, you can always search for different directions online. Some teas must be steeped longer, while other teas lose their ideal flavor when steeped for too long. Make sure you understand the directions for whichever tea you choose to sit down to.

Listen to Soothing Music

Technology makes it very easy to put together a playlist perfectly suited for your tastes and your ideal winding-down mood. Some people like to relax with some jazz music, while others relax best with some soft pop or Indie music. Whatever music you like to wind down with, craft a nice playlist and allow yourself time to just sit and listen. Maybe you can look out the window at the beautiful leaves outside while you do so. 

Meditate

More and more people are discovering the great benefits of meditation. While it's easy to picture the images you may have seen of people meditating in exotic places perched on a rock overlooking a cliff, you can meditate easily right inside the comfort of your own home. Try looking up some breathing exercises on YouTube for ideas on how to get started. There are even multiple free apps that have guided meditations you can follow to help you relax and decompress.

Bake Some Tasty Treats

In the heat of the summer, sometimes people avoid the oven because it is already so hot. In the fall, however, your oven could use some TLC and use. Remember those delectable pies and lemon bars your grandma used to make while you were growing up? Wouldn't it be great to learn how to make those yourself? While baking often takes a lot of work and it takes a while to get past the learning curve, baking together with those you love is a fantastic way to build memories and destress from the day-to-day things that get you worked up. Imagine sitting at the table and biting into that nice gooey inside of your favorite apple pie. There isn't much better than that.

No matter how you choose to spend your fall, allow yourself time to relax and decompress after a long hard day's work. The options for how to relax are numerous, but the end goal is the same; centering yourself enough that you are ready to face whatever life will throw at you next.