Fall Check-in: 6 Ways To Balance Yourself During The Equinox

You know the best thing about September? Well, there are a few, but September is one of my all time favorite months because it means my favorite season is here. I may be biased, I am born in September.

The beauty of fall is full of cooler weather, leaves changing colors, pumpkin EVERYTHING- the list could go on.

One of my favorite things though is the autumnal equinox. For some reason, I had never given much thought to the fall or spring equinox, and once I finally did, I realized what a beautiful thing they are. The summer and winter solstice always seemed like the most magical times. They are both the longest day and shortest day of the year. It seemed so cool to know that the sun is awake and out the longest hours in a day during the summer solstice, and that once the winter solstice hit with the shortest sunlit hours in a day, all the days after that would be getting longer. I'm a sunshine girl, I like my long days.

The fall equinox, to me, always just signaled that my favorite season was here. Then I looked it up. Both the spring and fall equinox are when it is almost 12 hours of sun and 12 hours of night. The day is split and balanced almost exactly in half.

This is such a cool thing because often when we get imbalanced the scales naturally shift, and we get to strive to figure out how to rebalance ourselves. The fall equinox to me began to symbolize a time of year when I get to check-in on myself. I get to check-in on how I have progressed during the year, and how I can balance myself to take on the last leg of the year.

Check-ins with yourself are always important, but to have one of those big down and dirty check-ins, twice a year seems like a great way to realign with your vision and goals of the year. Think of your spring cleaning. You might regularly clean all year, but at least once or twice a year, you rip apart the whole house for a massive purge or deep-clean. Your house is an extension of your mind—do a deep clean on yourself at least twice a year.

And my friend, feel free to combine it with some delicious pumpkin spice, because everything is cozier with a little pumpkin magic.

There are so many different ways you could do your deep clean check-in, but here’s a guide to start you off on the right foot and support you in finishing strong to the end of the year.

Fall Clean Your House & Space

I think this is a great place to start before you start diving into yourself for where you need to balance out. When you have a clean and organized area, you can think more clearly and are more relaxed. This is also a physical way to begin your deep-dive check-in journey. By physically cleaning and clearing, you are also shifting the energy in your house. When you move and shake that energy it is going to get rid of some of the stagnant junk that has built up throughout the year.

Another thing to do when you are getting your space in order is to smudge. Smudging will also clear unnecessary energy. To purge, get rid of things that have built up over the year and are not serving you at the present. Go through any clothes that no longer call your name to be worn- someone else is waiting for them. Take a look in your pantry for any expired foods. Get the dust cloth out and clear off those baseboards- or in my case, my plant leaves.

If it feels a bit overwhelming, just start by taking on a room. Specifically, the room you would like to do your inner deep clean in is a good place to work in. Make sure you find the joy in getting your space in order.

Take pride in the work you are doing. Give yourself a pat on the back for how refreshed you feel and how wonderful your space looks.

Take An Assessment Of Your Year Thus Far

So, you have about 3 months left in the year. What have you learned from the past 9 months?

You have had wins, you have had fails, you have had challenges. Regardless, begin to acknowledge them. Acknowledge the big and the small in everything. Acknowledging the small wins is just as important as acknowledging the big wins.

Why you may ask? Those small wins are the steppingstones that created your big wins. They are what have been shaping you from who you were at the new year to who you have become through the course of the year. And let me tell you, you are not the same person as you were when you started the year. You may feel similar, but you have changed and grown throughout the year- even if you resisted it.

Consider these questions:

Have you embraced the year?

Have you managed to work through your challenges?

Are you still in the midst of your challenges?

Has your year gone as expected and followed along with your plan or did you get a tsunami right in the middle that shook the whole thing up?

How have you shown up for yourself throughout the year?

Who have you gotten to be during this year to accomplish your goals and work through your challenges?

What lessons have you learned both through your wins and your challenges?

It can be so empowering when we take a look at the place we started and the place we are now. This time of the year is the milestone before the endzone. It’s that part where you get that second wave to sprint to the end of the year. Acknowledge where you began, how far you have come, and all the things that happened in-between.

Assess how you are feeling balanced in your mind, body, and spirit.

You just assessed the course your year has taken, now let’s assess how balanced you are feeling as a result of all that. It is important to take a holistic view of this. Look at the balance of your mind, body, and spirit as both singular and connected. If one is out of balance, the whole triad gets pushed out of balance. This month is the perfect month to get back into alignment with your mind, body, and spirit.

Here’s a few questions to help with that:

Do I feel balanced mind, body, and spirit at this point in the year?

What do I notice about myself that is out of balance?

What factors have created an imbalance in my mind, body, and spirit?

What action can I take to re-balance my mind, body, and spirit?

Write down any and all actions. You’ll want to do them. It means they come from a place of inspiration.

Get clear on your expectations and reset your goals

See that you have had some wins and have had some fails and have made it this far into the year. How do you want to dance through the rest of the year? Think about your vision that you had at the beginning of the year. What goals had you set for yourself? How close are you to achieving those goals?

When you think about that big, shiny ball dropping on New Year’s Eve, what is your vision for yourself for where you will be at the end?

Are the goals that you set in the beginning of the year still the goals you have for the end of the year? Have you learned a lot from this year that you have a new bar set for yourself or a different path to trailblaze down?

When you get clear on the expectations for what you would like to accomplish in the rest of the year, you begin to paint the picture of how to approach the next few months.

This is the part where you get to change.

We all have seasons and chapters in our lives and it is 100% ok to change our mind about our goals and plans in our lives.

For the fall equinox, I want you to take a look at those initial goals you set and consider if these goals are the goals you still want to follow through with to the end of the year or perhaps you are ready to create new ones.

I realized that I shifted A LOT this year, and while some goals are still the same, a lot are different. Not only that, but I also realize that I am much clearer on my goals. I reflect and set my goals every single month. It has showed me how they have shifted in how I have shifted my own values of what is important to me, and it has showed me a clearer picture of my vision that I have for myself.

If you sit down and really re-examine your why behind those goals you set this year, do you still align with that? If you find yourself veering from some of those goals you set, ask yourself what goal will be more aligned with who you are now. Refresh, revamp, and reset your goals as you head to the finish line of this year.

Treat Yourself

It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of working your butts off over the year that often you forget some genuine love yourself time. Treat yourself, big or small. Give yourself some gift as a thank you for showing up and buckling down into this year. This could be an extra hour reading, a fun adventure, a new outfit, or so on. The idea is not about spending money so much as showing yourself appreciation for what you have been up to—and appreciation can be shown in a multitude of ways money spent towards it or not.

Give Gratitude

Let the universe know how thankful you are for the past months you have experienced. There may be highlights and lowlights, but recognize the blessings that you have received. When you begin to tap into seeing the things that you are grateful for, you begin to see even more things that are a blessing in your life. Giving gratitude does more than just recognize your blessings, it also puts into the universe that you would like more of that in your life. It says, ‘I’m loving the great things in my life, keep ‘em coming!’. As a result, more great things will start to happen. That’s why it’s called grateful- you are full of great things.

Whew, take a breath!

That surely was a bit of a deep clean, but tell me, my friend, are you ready to plunge into the final leg of the year? Hopefully, you feel clearer and more balanced than you did before you started this journey.

Take that time to pause, rebalance, and recreate your gameplan. It will really give you clarity on how you can better align with that vision in your head. Just remember there are infinite possibilities in creating your vision and reaching your goals, and that you have the power to initiate action towards creating them.