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Summer usually means more travel, spending more time with your kids, changing schedules, late nights, new adventures, and so much more.
But all that excitement and deviation from the norm can leave you feeling depleted by September. So by the time September arrives and everyone’s back in school, you may feel exhausted, scattered, or like you’ve been knocked completely out of your usual routine.
I know I thought I’d feel more rested by the time the kids went back to school since we’d just had a busy camping trip. I was shocked when I came home, got adjusted and felt worse than before summer started! It felt like a summer hangover.
The good news is September doesn’t have to be the month of restricting yourself, pushing yourself too hard to get back to where you were a couple months ago, or total reinvention. It can instead be a time to reset your body, mind, and soul.
The 12 September Resets
One thing I notice after the summertime is I feel almost hungover after without much internal motivation. I’m not sure if it’s because so many regular workouts were skipped or postponed, that my regular sleep schedule was disrupted, I miss having my kids around, or I’ve eaten too many foods I wouldn’t normally eat when we’re on the go. But it was reality. The good news is it’s mid-September and I’m already feeling like myself again after trying this reset!
Here are my favorite ways to get back on track:
Reset Your Body
1. Get Back to Eating Regular, Nourishing Meals
Summer eating can be chaotic. Sometimes you have to grab whatever you can while on the go. I know we tend to eat out too much when we’re away, but I feel like that’s just part of vacationing is not having to cook haha. But September is the time to skip the grazing, the skipped meals, the takeout, and the living on your kid’s leftovers. Also, let’s learn to skip the dieting. Instead, let’s aim for regular, healthy meals with protein, produce, fiber-rich carbs, and healthy fats.
2. Reset Your Sleep Schedule
Late summer nights, early mornings and inconsistent schedules can throw everything off track and leave you feeling completely off pretty quickly. Try to re-establish your regular bedtime and wake time, or you can create new ones if you didn’t have good sleep hygiene before summer hit. And if you need some ideas on better sleep habits, read my post about sleep and weight loss here.
3. Ease Back Into Your Regular Routine
Summer is when we all take some time off from the usual. The secret is to not go from summer chaos mode to perfectly optimized life all on September 1st. Instead, gradually re-establish what should be your anchor healthy habits such as getting back to walking, strength training, stretching, eating healthy, meditating, or whatever makes you feel good
4.Start Strength Training Again
I don’t know about you, but between rentals, camping and hotels, they don’t always have the best set-ups for doing any type of weighted workouts. Then if you go anywhere remote, the closest gym can be 30+ minutes away, which is just too far. Now that you’re mostly home, it’s time to start lifting weights again.
Weightlifting not part of your weekly routine yet? My beginner weightlifting program is a great place to start! Plus you’ll learn exactly why weightlifting is a must as you get older.
5. Get Outside Every Day
This is an absolute must for overall wellness. It can be as simple as going for a walk, enjoying your morning coffee on the porch, going for a hike, playing with the kids, or riding your bikes together or alone. Literally whatever gets you outside and reconnecting with your body and nature.
6. Make Healthy Food Easier
Nourishing your body and mind doesn’t have to be complicated. This is where planning and prepping your food each week can really help. Think restocked fridges, quick and healthy breakfasts, simple dinners, grab and go protein, healthy snacks, etc.
Looking for a little more energy? Getting back to regular meals, sleep, hydration and movement is the foundation of feeling energized. But even if you seem to be doing all the things and still feeling like you could use a little more help, here’s the one non-shake supplement I take every single day that is easy to add to your routine. It also helps me resist most my kids’ illnesses they bring home throughout the year and makes my sore hip feel better. I’m not even sure if those are actual side effects, but that’s what I experience.
7. Take Back a Little Time for Yourself
Our first instinct when we’re feeling behind or scattered is to push to our limits. We stay busy to play catch up. But this one is all about spending your time not productively. That means not doing laundry, not running errands, not cleaning the countertops, and definitely no type of self-care disguised as another task. This is about spending 10 minutes alone in peace. You can read. You could sip coffee outside in the morning. You could go for a walk with your dog or child. It’s really whatever you need to do to undo your brain.
8. Clear Your Mental Clutter
This is where you do a complete brain dump and get all those nagging tasks, brilliant ideas, updated goals, appointments, and worries out of your head. Then decide what tasks can be delegated, eliminated, postponed, or simply ignored.
9. Put Something Good Back Into Your Brain
Getting yourself motivated again can take some time after summer unofficially ends and the kids get back to school. The best way to speed things up and get inspired is to read a motivational book or self development book (here’s a list of my favorite books), listen to an inspiring podcast, journaling, revisit something that made you happy, literally anything that leaves you feeling clearer rather than more overwhelmed.
10. Reset One Area of Your Environment
This is where I’ve made a huge mistake in the past. I tried to deep clean the entire house the moment my two oldest went back to school. But that’s not the way to do it. It’s not time to deep-clean your entire house, which will leave you more overwhelmed than peaceful if your house is anything like mine. I recommend choosing one space in your home that’s been driving you crazy and resetting it. A place like a certain kitchen counter, your bedroom closet, your car, a closet, that kitchen drawer (you know the one!), your bathroom, etc. Choose one space that makes you try to look the other way every time you see it.
11. Do Something That Makes You Feel Like You Again
This is where you can have a little fun and be creative. You can create something new, take on a new hobby, get dressed up, take yourself somewhere, paint, exercise, get your hair or nails done, etc. Whatever reminds you that you’re a whole individual person outside your family and work responsibilities is what we’re going for here.
12. Put Something on the Calendar to Look Forward To
This can also be really fun to do. Try planning a girls’ night, taking a hike, going on a date with your spouse, going to a fall festival, going away for the weekend, attending a concert, staying at a haunted house, etc. Just do something that’s purely because you want to do it. Because wellness isn’t just about getting your habits back together in September, it’s about waking up to a life you enjoy.
Your September Reset Checklist
Download the Free September Reset Checklist
I know this list may seem like it’s a lot to implement, but you don’t have to tackle all of them at the same time. Here’s what you can do.
Choose one thing from each category:
BODY: __________________________
MIND: __________________________
ROUTINE: _______________________
ME: ____________________________
Then:
My Feel-Good Five
For this section, I want you to think about the five things that consistently make you feel your best. It can be as simple as your favorite lipstick or outfit.
The five things that help me feel most like myself:
☐ __________________________
☐ __________________________
☐ __________________________
☐ __________________________
☐ __________________________
I’ve created a free one-page September Reset Checklist you can’t print, save for later, or keep somewhere you’ll see it daily. You can use it to choose the habits you’d like to focus on this month, and then you can fill in your Feel-Good Five, one thing you’re letting go of, and one thing you’re looking forward to.
Download the Free September Reset Checklist
A September Reset Isn’t a Reinvention
Feeling almost hungover after the summer or completely overwhelmed for whatever reason doesn’t mean you’re failing at life or anything’s wrong. It simply means you had fun and enjoyed it.
Yes, your routines changed – and that’s expected. But that’s only because your life changes during the summer when your kids are all home.
September gives you a chance to return to the habits that make you feel more like you. They help keep you grounded, energized, nourished, and more like yourself. But you don’t need to switch back to everything all at once.
I’d recommend starting with a few basics. I usually do the important ones first like eating regular nutritious meals, daily strength training, and returning to better sleep habits. Then I’d suggest getting outside, meditating or giving your brain some quiet each day, and making room for things that you enjoy.
Because wellness isn’t about creating a perfectly optimized life. It’s about creating a life that you enjoy.
Want to do your own September Reset?
Download the free one-page checklist above and choose the habits that will help you feel like yourself again this season. Leave me a comment below and let me know how it goes!
