When Did September Become January 2.0?

There used to be four seasons.

Now, apparently, there are four seasons and several opportunities to completely reinvent yourself. January has always owned the reset. But somewhere along the way, September quietly joined the competition.

The moment August ends, we're encouraged to get "back on track". New workout programmes appear. Autumn routines are constructed. Diaries are reorganised. Fridges are restocked. Summer clothes disappear and suddenly everyone online appears to be waking earlier, eating better and entering the final quarter of the year with an alarming amount of enthusiasm.

There is even something quite seductive about it.

September genuinely does feel different, holidays finish and children go back to school. The evenings begin drawing in, work gets busier, the looseness of summer gives way to something more structured.

And the new routine can feel incredibly good!

The problem begins when a change in season becomes another reason to believe that the version of our life we're currently living isn't quite good enough.

The wellness industry loves a fresh start.

Fresh starts are wonderfully marketable, they give us a reason to buy the programme, join the challenge, order the supplements, overhaul the wardrobe and finally become the person who prepares overnight oats before bed and the 6am class at the gym.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of those things.

Sometimes buying something new gives us motivation. Sometimes joining a challenge genuinely gets us moving again. Sometimes a new routine is exactly what we need.

But we're increasingly encouraged to approach our lives as a permanent renovation project... There is always another habit to optimise, another area to improve and another version of ourselves waiting just around the corner.

And I'm not convinced that's making us feel particularly well, what if we edited instead? I kinda like the idea of an autumn edit much more than an autumn reset.

An edit assumes there are already good things there - you don't throw everything away and start again. You look at what you have, decide what's working, remove what isn't and perhaps introduce one or two things that make the whole thing better.

It's a much more forgiving way to think about our routines.

Perhaps you've spent the summer walking more because the evenings have been lighter. Keep it.

Perhaps you've finally found a Pilates class you genuinely look forward to. Keep it.

Perhaps eating breakfast makes you feel better, you've started putting your phone away earlier or you've found one dinner everyone in your house will actually eat without complaint... Keep those too.

We don't always give ourselves enough credit for the things we've already figured out.

Routines should make life easier and I think this is the part we sometimes forget.

A good routine isn't impressive because it looks disciplined, it's good because it removes friction from your life.

Knowing which days you're going to move means you don't have to negotiate with yourself every morning. Having a few dinners you can make without thinking removes another decision at the end of a long day. Putting your keys in the same place every evening is technically a routine too, although admittedly far less likely to become a TikTok series.

The best routines are often incredibly unremarkable, they simply make life work slightly better, and perhaps that's a more useful question to ask this September:

Does this make my life easier or am I adding another thing I now have to be good at?

You are allowed to change with the season - of course, not everything that worked in July will work in October and that's normal.

The darker mornings might change when you want to exercise. You might start craving warmer food. Evenings spent outside become evenings at home. Our energy, schedules and priorities shift.

Adapting isn't failing at consistency, it's life and there is a difference between abandoning every habit the moment circumstances change and being flexible enough to build routines around the life you're actually living.

Wellness should be able to move with us... So I'm not doing a September reset - I'm editing (and not just because I'm pregnant)!

I'm keeping the things that make me feel good, letting go of a few things that aren't working and resisting the urge to turn the beginning of autumn into another enormous self-improvement project.

There will probably be a few new things too. That's part of the fun of a new season!

But I'm trying to remember that I don't need to earn the right to enter October by becoming more productive, more organised, fitter, healthier or somehow better than I was in August.

Neither do you.

You don't need a new life for a new season. Sometimes you just need to make the one you already have work a little better.