Autumn joy list

I wrote back on 16 September, over on Instagram, about my Autumn joy list. This is a spin-off of the A Beautiful Mess blog seasonal bucket list idea, where you make a list every season of things you would like to do for fun, joy, or to create memories. I’ve never officially interacted with this concept, but I’ve always loved hearing Emma and Elsie (the sisters who own A Beautiful Mess) talking about it, and their specific plans for that season.

Well, this autumn I figured why not? There’s definite method in writing down your goals, I find I’m so much more likely to achieve them if I announce them out loud and write them down. It helps keep me on track and stops me forgetting my chosen activities within a few days. I’m not a fan of the term ‘bucket list’, since it technically refers to things you would like to do before you die. No shade on Emma and Elsie, it clearly works for them, but I renamed mine my ‘joy list’, since it’s made up of activities I would like to do specifically for joy that season. It also helps frame the list in my mind, as specifically activities for fun. It would be easy for me, an individual for whom the need to be productive is a huge motivator, to let non-joyful tasks sneak in there. For example, ‘Sew Christmas presents’ is a task that is technically fun, since I love sewing, but more productive than joyful in ticking off my Christmas present list. 

Since nothing is official until you put it on social media, I announced my list in Instagram stories. You can see my list above, but I’ll write it out below for people using screen readers. The alt text box in the image is too small to write the whole thing out entirely (I’m nothing if not verbose).

I don’t usually make seasonal joy lists but I have an urge to this autumn and stating my intentions out loud helps me actually do them. This season I would like to:

Go on a trail run

Take Badger out for a solo hike

Bake my Christmas cake

Spend more time knitting, sewing, and reading, and less time scrolling and playing games on my phone (this is an ongoing struggle not specifically linked to the seasons)

Take a trip (I have 2 booked!)

So, now it’s December and technically winter, how did the list fare? I’ll take the activities in order.

Between the Crags and Arthur’s Seat, with the Firth of Forth in the background and Fife across the water

At the start of the Water of Leith walkway, in Balerno, outside of Edinburgh

Go on a trail run

First up was to go on a trail run. I managed this one-and-a-half times over, I’m very proud to say. Most of my exercise is done in the gym (love me some weights), and my runs are often quick out-and-backs through the centre of Edinburgh or to Sainsbury’s for dinner ingredients. The joy list gave me the motivation to go further afield and mix it up a little, injecting a little adventure into my normal routes. The half-trail-run I’m counting as it was through the Crags and Arthur’s Seat, the extinct volcano hill in the centre of Edinburgh. In that section of the run you’re on trails and tracks, and it’s definitely more school cross country vibes than my normal running routes. The full trail was a real adventure. I caught the bus out to Balerno, to find the start of the Water of Leith walkway. This is a pedestrian pathway that follows the Water of Leith river (hilariously and depressingly named the Tumbleturd in the past for it’s pollution), which runs right past our flat in Dean Village. I’ve walked the Water of Leith walkways around our house hundreds of times, but never really further than around 3-4 miles. The start of the walkway is 9.3 miles from our flat and I’m proud I can now say I’ve run that distance. Full disclosure, I stopped for a coffee from the Water of Leith conservation trust and brisk-walked for 20 minutes whilst I drank. Gotta support your local conservation charity after all.

Take Badger on a solo hike

I’m sad to report I never made time to take Badger for a solo hike. I had good intentions but the timing never came together. I’m going to roll this one forward to my winter joy list, since I have really enjoyed our alone time in the past. Since we got our second dog, Daisy, four years ago, I’ve been very aware that Badger has received less attention. I don’t honestly think he cares, he’s a very independent soul who prefers to be alone. But I would like to look back in the future and know I made time for him by himself. 

Bake my Christmas cake

I’ve made my own Christmas cake for several years now, it’s part of my personal festive traditions. Andrew (my husband) doesn’t eat Christmas cake, so this is a solo activity I’m doing purely for myself. I have a go-to vegan recipe, which has yet to fail me, and I get to do the icing as I prefer, which is thick and generous. I like to eat it it with cheese and a nip of whisky, often in bed with a book. I’m saving cutting it until my work shifts over Christmas are done, it will be my little festive celebration for myself. I’ve got 6 days off after my last Christmas shift, and my plan is to courie in with books, knitting, and my Christmas cake. The cake this year is baked, carefully wrapped in waxed paper, and will be religiously fed with rum until icing time.

Spend less time scrolling

The task to ‘spend more time knitting and less time scrolling’ is not really a joy list activity. Past Amy let a productivity task sneak in there, I’m embarrassed to admit. But, since it’s there, it’s a good opportunity to speak about my recent social media hiatus.

I’m currently going through a period of evaluating my relationship with Instagram, we’ve become a bit too co-dependent and it’s time for me to step away. I’m experimenting with uninstalling the app from my phone and then re-installing it 1-2 times a week, mostly to promote my writing and check in on specific accounts or pattern hashtags. It’s so far helping me develop a more mindful, intentional attitude to social media, and hopefully will help limit the endless doom scrolling.

Moving over to Substack has definitely made me realise how much more I enjoy mindful, long-form reading, over the punchy posts and in-your-face graphics designed to capture the short and shortening attention spans of the consumer. The simplifying of complex topics into single posts or 30 second videos, often glossing over the nuance and history of the issues, turns me right off. I want to educate myself and be a constant, curious student of life, but I would prefer to get that information from experts and reliable witnesses, not from influencers and content creators. That’s not to say that people on social media don’t have a right to their voice and opinion, and can’t be well intentioned and well educated. But I’ve realised over the past few years, social media is not the way I want to gain knowledge and awareness. It’s early days, we’ll see how my intentional checking-in method works with Instagram. I’ve definitely noticed a reduction in my screen time and I’m finding it easier to be mindful and let myself be bored in those dull moments, waiting in line at the checkout for example, rather than automatically reaching for my phone. I also deleted Royal Match from my phone, I’m honestly a bit embarrassed I downloaded it in the first place, I was suckered in by a Duolingo advert…

Take a trip

The last item on my Autumn joy list, was to take a trip. At the time I made that list, I had two in the diary. As I write this, I’ve taken four. If I’m honest, that was more than I expecting, and the last two were more stressful than joyful, being for mine and Andrew’s respective work. I can’t really complain, I love taking a trip in the autumn. The opportunity to see the changing colours of the trees and the autumnal hues of the landscape, is unparalleled. I spend the whole of the season pointing out the beautiful colours of the foliage in my day-to-day local area. Taking a trip allows me to see these changes on a macro scale and I love it. The trip to see family in the north of England also gave me what I expect will be my last bare feet in the ocean for 2023. There aren’t many people for whom I’ll voluntarily run into cold water, but my mum’s old dog Gilbey is definitely on that list. She lost a brand new toy and was very sad about it, despite mine and Mum’s most heroic efforts at search and rescue.

For my first official joy list, I would consider this a huge success. I’ve felt more motivated and focused to actually DO the things on my list, rather than just talking about them and wishing I could make them happen. A trail run, for example, is the kind of activity I would often wistfully talk about, but never actually action. It’s made me more mindful of the changing seasons, keeping a watchful eye on the nature surrounding me as I go about my daily business. I’ll definitely be repeating this method, I’m already mentally working on my winter joy list. I’ll be sure to write about it once I’ve nailed everything down, but I know for sure ‘ice and eat my Christmas cake’ will be on there.