The weather has turned from a glorious, golden-hued fall, bright with sunshine and incredible fall foliage, to your more typical grey, rainy Pacific Northwest autumn. It’s moody out there, windy and wet. Best to turn indoors to candles and soup and good books and Netflix. With that in mind, here’s the shape of life lately.

I’m reading Exit West, written by Mohsin Hamid, a very good book, indeed. I had been really craving a quality book for a couple of months. Almost everything I’ve read since Madeleine Thien’s Do Not Say We Have Nothing, has been a bit of a letdown (but perhaps nothing could measure up to that brilliant writing). It is thrilling to have something I am loving on my kindle. There’s nothing like getting into a cozy bed with warm, flannel sheets, and reading. A good book actually makes me look forward to going to bed.

We’re watching Making a Murderer, Season 2. It’s gutting and almost unbearable to watch how the lives of these people are toyed with by the giant machine of the US Justice System. Staggering in its scope, heartbreaking at almost every turn. We’re only part way through, and I am hopeful for some redemption, and at the same time fear there will be none. If you haven’t watched, begin with Season 1. It’s well worth it.

Seymour has a limp and it’s only slowly improving. So my glorious forest walks are on hold while he heals. Neighbourhood walks, for now, on leash. Poor guy. I miss the forest and think probably being there would help me appreciate this rainy weather (as long as I was dressed for it), but there is also something lovely about looping around the different streets in our neighbourhood. Streets I haven’t seen before, houses decked out for Halloween. It’s got me dreaming of moving and decorating and rearranging furniture.

I’m still eating according to Fuel for Fat Loss, checking that my meals tally up good macros. If that sounds like I’m speaking another language, don’t worry, I’m going to write a post about it! Overall, it feels great to eat clean, to skip the sugar and the refined carbs. I have noticed, however, that a couple of meals of slipping (say, after a 5 year old’s birthday party, complete with pizza and Cupcake Cake), makes the siren call of sugar STRONG! Best to shore up strength before the Christmas season is upon us.

I love Christmas. I can’t wait. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Decluttering. It’s time again. November is going to a month of purging. After last January’s great purge (you can read about that here), stuff has, inevitably, crept back in, and my tolerance for it has diminished. Which means, it is time. A less intense plan is required this time, both due to the results of January’s challenge, and necessitated by other November commitments and plans. That Minimalist Challenge requires a commitment - of time and energy - so I am creating a minimalist version of the Minimalist Challenge (get it?!). This time around it is 40 things each week, beginning this week, for a total of 5 weeks (the first week is a short one), each week ending on a Sunday. I’m so excited! Clearing out the old to make room for new developments.

Photo by Danielle Macinnes from Unsplash

Speaking of which, new projects are in the works, and I am getting organized with designating “Office Hours” and making plans. A friend and I are keeping one another accountable - she is working on her own new projects - and it is wonderful to feel the momentum of beginning together. My own coach is helping me to hold the vision, offering support and fuel for the ride. I, too, am supporting clients who are beginning exciting new projects (is there something in the Autumn air that breathes new projects?). It is thrilling to watch their small steps begin to blossom, to support them and hold them accountable, to hold the vision for them when they are doubting it. There is something so powerful about knowing another person has faith in your journey, in your dream. It is so easy to let our own projects be last on the list of the great To Do’s; they slip down because they are not urgent, helped along on their descent by a dollop of fear and self-doubt. Always so easy to put off beginning, always so much more satisfying to begin. Find a dream-partner or coach - or both! - if you can: someone who holds you accountable and also holds the torch to guide the way when things get foggy.

Here’s to beginning, and continuing on our way.