Autumn is a time for new beginnings too

There are many points in the year where we can choose to start a new undertaking. New year is synonymous with resolutions, spring has its cleaning and fresh sprouting plants, our birthdays can prompt a desire to make a change, and of course a diet can only start on a Monday.

But autumn has its own special energy when it comes to making a new start. With summer coming to an end, we pack away our sun hats and shorts and dig out our jumpers and overcoats (the preferred wardrobe choice for many), and it’s traditionally the time when a new term starts, we begin a new year of learning and study and take more decisive steps to achieving our goals.

For a lot of us, autumn goes beyond the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness and is instead the time of new pencil cases, to do lists and a determination to succeed.

If you are beginning to feel the tug of autumnal ambition, some simple tips from the world of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (the type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy we teach here at CCBT), might come in useful.

Set clear goals

You may feel the urge to make some changes, but where, and how? Being clear on what you want and how you will go about it will help you focus and identify the steps required. A vague goal of ‘improve my career’ might sound good, but what would that look like?

Something like ‘improve my IT skills’ or ‘take that management course’ begins to look much more achievable and with a clear pathway to success.

Plan your work and work your plan

Once you know what you want to achieve, take some time to plan how you will get there. Do you need to register on a course? Join a gym? Source some new equipment or gear?

Just as with any CBT-based behavioural task, identifying what you will do (and the clear reason why), helps you plan, imagine and achieve.

Think realistically but not pessimistically about what difficulties or challenges you may face, and how you will overcome them. Having some realistic expectations, strategies and resilience already in place will help us when the going gets tough.

And once you do begin, don’t lose sight of your goals, but don’t become overwhelmed or despondent if they still seem far away. What small, achievable things can you do to move closer to your goals? By focusing on the smallest thing, and then the next, we can build up to behaviours that are challenging but never overwhelming, keeping us on track and motivated.

Celebrate progress, not perfection 

Just as the seasons change steadily but slowly, taking a whole year to come around again, acknowledge and celebrate your progress, no matter how small. This will keep you motivated and cultivate a more realistic sense of achievement. Who says everything has to be perfect? Is there an actual law of nature? Of course there isn’t. We may prefer things to go well, but we can learn to accept that they won’t always. This may be uncomfortable, but definitely tolerable, and certainly in our interests for us to do so. Read up on why progress can sometimes feel slow or difficult, but is always worth the effort here.

Enjoy your success in other life areas

As you move closer and closer towards your chosen goal, you may notice how your newly discovered autumnal ambition is spreading into other areas.

You might be feeling inspired to make your home extra cozy for the winter, or start planning a mid-season holiday. Whatever it is, when we start to make concerted change in one area of our lives, we often see improvement in others. This is similar to the transdiagnostic nature of REBT – the skills you learn to help solve one problem are easily applied to other life domains.

So be open to and ready to capitalise on this newly found lease of life, as the trees turn golden and the evenings darken. Why wait till January first to find that new you?