Intentions & Goals for the Fall Season

Welcome to The In Between Podcast. I'm Astrid.

And I'm Alexis. And we're 2 best friends on a journey to living a fun, intentional life.

We know it's easier to share on a season of life once it's behind you, but what about when you're in the middle of the growth, confusion, and decision-making?

This lifestyle podcast is for the everyday gal who loves to travel, talk about business, relationships, fashion, and everything in between.

Hello friends, and welcome back to another episode of The In Between Podcast. This is one of your hosts, Astrid.

And the other half, Alexis. And last week we talked about summer reflections, and this week we're going to be talking about fall intentions. And you know, we kind of talked about this a bit last week, but when you're in between seasons, literally in between summer and fall, it's always helpful to really stop, pause, and kind of sit set the tone for how you want the next couple of months to go. And so we're going to talk about some of our intentions for fall. And I'm just so excited because fall is one of my favorite seasons and I feel like I come alive a little bit in the fall. So I feel like this is going to be a good one. Um, but before we do, let's do a little bit of like a weekend update. How are you? I know this is like last weekend was the last weekend. Before your crazy wedding, like, busy season, right?

It has begun. It has begun.

We're already in it.

The end is near. No, I'm kidding. It's, um, yeah, it is here. It is in full swing. Um, and a little bit of a life update, I got my official, I guess, rescheduled date for U.S. citizenship, um, test. And so it's October 6th, so be sending good vibes. So your girl's gonna be literally driving to sessions and studying the Constitution on the way there.

I wonder if there's like a Spotify podcast or like some sort of app that you can listen and learn while you're driving.

Yes, there absolutely is. So that's what I will be listening to because I have like 3 weeks, less, less than a month to prep for this interview and be ready to go. But But yeah, on that note, on Friday I took my stepdad to his citizenship appointment and he passed, which is incredible. English is definitely his second language, so that's always nerve-wracking and hard because you don't know if maybe you know the answer, but you might not understand the other person's accent in English. And so will you be able to pass?

Right.

So it was great. And then a little story time on that was I got my car's oil changed, and I guess it imbalanced the tires. So my car started shaking on the drive to this citizenship test. Oh my gosh. And you can't just miss your citizenship appointment test. Like, you would have had to reschedule it way in advance to do that. And the car's shaking on the drive there, and I am being like, oh yeah, it's just like my tires just need rebalanced, like playing it off so that my mom wouldn't freak out and they wouldn't freak out. And then while I'm driving, I'm so nervous and I'm already thinking like, I don't care what it costs, but I will get an Uber to pick them up here and drive him to St. Louis to where he needs to be. But we made it, shaking car and all. We made it back.

But like the alignment essentially with your tires was off?

Yeah.

That's scary. It was shaking so much.

That happens so much.

Yes.

It's horrible. So anyway, car is going in tomorrow, so I'm not going to be a shaky girl anymore.

Oh my gosh, that is— that's like so nerve-wracking, especially when you're on your way to a really important appointment. It's like a nightmare dream that you would have where like, yeah, you're like, oh, I just can't make it to the appointment. I've definitely had dreams like that. And that happened to you in real life?

Real life, baby. But we're good. So yeah, so that has been good. And then everything has been— it's been a very busy season. And it's been a good, um, mental growth, uh, time of my life of just like learning to find joy in little things. I've had some really long workdays and then I'll, we've been taking like 30 minutes to an hour, um, a few times a week to play Sequence. And it's been such a fun stress relief. We've played, we played it like 3 times already.

I literally love that. I love that you're becoming, whenever we're home for Christmas, we should have a Sequence tournament.

Redemption. Tell me that you're ready. Oh my God.

Well, that's exciting about your upcoming citizenship test, October 6th. Okay, I've got it locked in the memory, in the vault. Um, everyone be sending Astrid good vibes on that day. You're gonna do great.

Yes, please. Thank you. I haven't studied for a test in so long.

Yeah, it's, uh, I'm not, I'm not great at test taking. So I— are you good at test-taking? I feel like you would be good at it.

I am. The only thing that's fuzzy for me is like specific dates.

Okay.

Or numbers.

Numbers.

I can capture the story real well and I'll memorize the heck out of it. But you ask me what date did we, you know, conquer and like do all these things, I'm like, it was in the summer, it was in the summertime for sure.

The leaves are falling. What day did we colonize?

Oh my God. Anyway, what's been going on in your life?

Um, well, my best friend Kate came in this past weekend and it was so much fun. Um, she is someone I met— we met— we just had our 8-year friendiversary. Oh, we met whenever I was 22, she was 23, in Nashville. I had started a church group out of my house. I was very underqualified, but I was like, I just need friends and I'll sign up to lead a life group. And I did. And Kate was the first one to my house and we've been best friends ever since. Um, so she came to visit Matthew and I this weekend and Piper, and we had so much fun. We went out, we went to the spa, we went to the pool, we went to the beach. We had like a girlfriend weekend. I love that. So fun. Also, she is Filipino. And where she lives in Pennsylvania, there's not a lot of like authentic Filipino cuisine. And so we hit up like her favorite Filipino restaurant in Houston. We ordered like 9 dishes of different Filipino food.

It was amazing. That's amazing.

It was awesome. Like we absolutely loved it. And she was like ordering all these things and she was so excited and so joyful. And Matthew and I were just like, Let's do it. Like, add it on. Um, so it was a really wholesome weekend. Very like, even though life between work and my coaching business has been so busy, sometimes when you're hosting in the middle of a busy season, you can just get tired. Like, you love your people and you're so grateful that they're there. And at the same time, like, being around Kate was so energizing. Like, I, I wasn't tired at all. I was like, can you just like stay here? Can you just move to Houston? So it was such a good weekend, very wholesome vibes. And we started the TV show The Terminal List on Amazon Prime.

Oh yeah, is it good?

Oh my gosh, it's— we're done with it. We started it on Saturday night, we're already done.

That would be my, my editing show for the fall.

It will suck you in, like We, me, Kate, and Matthew were trying to decide, like, do we want to watch a movie? Like, you know, that, that, like, that moment where you've got like your food and you're like nestling in for the night.

Yes.

And it's just like the key decision, like, what are we gonna watch?

And so—

I hear you. I know, it's crazy. It's very important decisions. We were in between like a couple different movies and then a TV show, and I was like, well, let's start a show. We'll watch one episode. If we don't like it We'll bounce over to a movie. We watched 4 episodes in one sitting.

I love—

So The Terminal List, it's very good. It's like a great combination of a lot of different things. Army, government corruption, like, uh, what is that called? Medical trials, like vigilante vibes. Like, it's seriously so good. So 10 out of 10.

All the vibes that I need in my life.

Yeah, go ahead and DM me if you watch it because I'd love to talk to you about it.

Yes, yes. Well, actually, we've been looking for something new to watch, so that is perfect.

I think Nick would like it.

Mm-hmm. It sounds like it. He likes that kind of stuff.

Yeah, same, same. Um, okay, we always start at the beginning of every episode talking about what we're in between. So what are you in between right now?

All right, what am I in between? Um, okay, this is very fresh. So my boyfriend used to have a very flexible schedule and then started a new job yesterday. And so with both of us before having flexible schedules, everything was just kind of like we just played each day by ear. And now he has to be in the office by 7:30 in the morning. And so it's been Really interesting because this whole coming week, like, we're not gonna be able to have any quality time until like next Wednesday, and then I'll leave on Thursday until like Sunday. And so we're like jumping—

Oh.

I'm in between the seasons of we were able to always find a way to flex our schedules to find a little bit of quality time even when I was traveling a ton, and then now between my travel and his fixed schedule, it's just more slim. So we're just trying to be very intentional still with our quality time. And then I'm also in between needing to communicate when I'm feeling overwhelmed and need to work. Or how do you balance that side of you have all this stuff to work, you have a partnership, you have family, you also need time to yourself and reset your home. And so that was a little bit of Sunday for me was like, Okay, I want to do so many things and it feels like this one thing is taking up all of it. And I was resenting it a little bit. But it's just realizing that the seasons are changing and needing to shift, needing to communicate and just find time somewhere throughout the week to do the things that are important and that bring me life.

Gosh, that has to be really hard to Adjust, especially you know you're a year into your relationship and then you have something like this that like really changes the way that you're able to spend time together. Sure, that is difficult. So sorry, that sucks.

Thank you. Yeah, I mean, it's okay.

We've been on a new job. Congrats! Like I'm happy for him for the career change because I know that's something he wanted. But it's like it's kind of tough when. You finally get what you want, but then it also comes with some of these consequences.

Yeah, but honestly, like, it sucks and I want more time together, and I'm loving the extra structure and him being like, okay, I gotta leave at 8:30. See you tomorrow or see you Wednesday. It's almost like a season where we're both focusing a lot into our careers and what we're doing, and we're supporting each other in that, and that feels really good.

Oh good. Okay. Yeah. Love the mindset shift on that. Yeah. Great. You have a positive outlook.

You're so supportive. I love it. You're like, okay, now we're here. Now we're here. Oh, that's okay.

I want you wherever you are. Um, what am I in between? I don't even know which, which thing I want to grasp, which thing I want to pull from. Um, okay. I'll pull from this because it's connected to a lot of different things. I have experienced more anxiety this year than I have in my entire life. And I'm someone that, at least in the majority of my adulthood, skews more towards a depressive, like low energy sadness, um, when it comes to my mental health. And I haven't been feeling that in a long time, which is great. And I am— it's like the energy has shifted more towards anxiety, and I am in between learning how to manage that in a way that's really healthy. And like, for example, being really anxious about work, or being really anxious about how things are going to play out in my coaching business, or like a trip that's upcoming, and do we have all of our dinner reservations? I mean, it's like I feel like it's just seeping into so many different things. And like, my parents are coming in a month. Am I going to have time to clean the baseboards before they get here? It's like, wow. You know? So I find myself gravitating towards that mental anxious headspace a lot about the future of like, is it going to be this way? Am I going to be able to do this? It's all about this what if and how I'm either going to interact with something, if I'm going to perform well, like whatever it is. And it's not— this is interesting and I'm learning this as I'm talking about it because I haven't really talked about this with anyone yet. Why not just put it on the pod? My anxiety is around me. It's around like things that I can or cannot control. Sorry, it's around things I can control. So my anxiety is not like, my parents are coming in a week. What if their flight gets canceled? It's not that. It's my parents are coming in a month, sorry, a month, and will I have time to make it the best experience for them? Like, I have this big work live event. Will I be able to show up the way that I want? And I'm having a lot of that internal anxiety. So something that's been helping is I have been trying to give myself margin to like, is that something I need to worry about right now? Do I need to worry about making reservations and cleaning the guest bedroom right now? Or can I— is that something that I can actually focus on in 3 weeks? Like the week before they get here, I can make sure that I get that done. And so that's been something I've been trying to like almost categorize my worry into like, that's not something I need to be concerned with right now. While I appreciate my brain saying, hey, this is important. I'm recognizing this is important. And I want to like prolong, or not prolong, I want to like delay.

Delay. Yeah.

I want to delay that concern to 20 days from now. And I've really been working on that practice of like, This is not something I need to be anxious about today. This is not something I need to be anxious about. So I'm in between figuring that out because I've just never experienced it before. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Anxiety can be absolutely horrible. Um, question for you on that. Like, does the thought of pushing it back make you more anxious or how do you, how do you table it in your mind?

I think I'm looking at like the amount of time between now and something I'm anxious about. Like I have a really big work summit for the company I work at, Circle, next week. And I'm emceeing, I'm facilitating 2 panel discussions, I'm teaching a live workshop, and I'm doing 2 live interviews.

Hmm.

So I have a lot of content to prep this week. And that's normal for me to feel that level of pressure. Like this is a big deal. I have a lot of responsibility. I need to nail it. So what I did this week is I blocked off pretty much every single day and hardly have any calls this week. And I did that a month ago. So a month ago I was like, oh my gosh, I've got all this content. I'm freaking out. Okay. Well, we really don't actually need to build a lot of that content until like 7 to 10 days before. So let's just block off the week before the summit. No calls, no distractions, get all of the content built, and then we'll walk into the summit week feeling great. That has helped me plan. Does that make sense? I'm feeling it now.

Absolutely.

I'll put it in my calendar when I need to actually focus on it.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I guess that's why I was asking, because for me, I actually get more anxious if I say, well, I don't have to worry about that until 2 weeks from now. I personally have to do a physical thing with it, like put it on my calendar for 2 weeks from now, move it in my Asana to 2 weeks from now, put it in a to-do list for 2 weeks from now. But that's just me because I'm very task-oriented. So if it's— I guess for me, the anxiety comes from, am I going to miss it or forget it or whatever it might be? So I was curious how, from your experience right now with anxiety and learning how to navigate with it, this year, what was working best for you? Because each person manages it so differently. But it's so good to hear. It seems like you're managing it so well. And it's hard to feel all those feelings because it's almost like— I don't know if this happens to you, but you feel like the pressure on your chest and almost feeling it in your body. And when it comes from your mind and then you're also feeling it in your body, it's like 2 parts of you are feeling it and that Increases the anxiety even more.

Of course.

You're just like breathing really hard through it to try to calm one of them out. And it's spiraling. It really is. It's like a spiraling situation in the moment of stress. So thank you for sharing that. And I hope that vocalizing it too helps you to process it verbally a little bit more as well.

Yeah, it does. Thanks for listening.

Always.

Um, let's talk about fall intentions.

Let's do it.

What?

It was just funny because you're just like, okay, anxiety, bye-bye. I'm done. As you should, as you should. Um, okay, well, let's talk about our fall intentions. I really loved our episode last week on the summer wrap-up. I am very glad that we it up because it was nice to like sit on those emotions and then mentally prep for this one as well. And so much has happened since as well. So, um, do you want to go like one back and forth with each other of what intentions we have for fall and kick us off?

Yeah, let's, let's bounce back and forth. Do you want me to start?

Yeah, go for it.

Okay, this is a short one. I'll start us off light. More soup. My fall intention is soup. I want to make a new soup every single week. So, okay, this weekend I'm gonna make my first soup, and then every weekend, like, of the summer— sorry, wow, of the fall— I just want to test out different soup recipes. And I have just been loving, like, trying different things, and soup is also a really easy thing to meal prep.

Mm-hmm.

So it still falls in with my meal prep, like looking at the protein associated, like how could I make a high protein, um, soup and just things like that. So starting off this week with a, um, chicken and like a wild chicken and rice.

Yeah.

Um, but it's dairy and it's dairy and gluten-free. So like just trying out different, different, uh, variations of soup. So I know this is kind of silly, but I am like, I— it brings me joy having football on in the background and making soup.

That is amazing. She's a football girly now. Yes.

Midwestern girl till I die.

Truly, you're like sweating, but you're still eating the soup in September and fall. Honestly, that's so fun though. I feel like you, uh, you de-stress so much too with cooking. Like, you love to cook. So having a new recipe will be just a fun little joyful thing to look forward to every week. Um, on my end, I started a new workout program and I love it. I love it.

The Alive app?

Yes.

It's the best.

It truly is. Like, it just helps to just mentally have something different and just have someone think of everything ahead of of it all for me. And I started my weightlifting journey when I was 18 or 19, 18, around there, 19. And then someone designed the program for me and I've just been doing the same thing over and over and I just manipulate certain things and will add workouts based on things that I learn online. But overall, it was created by someone that trained in bodybuilding type style. I loved it. I saw changes in my body when I needed to. I saw what I needed to adjust. But mentally, I was just burnt out on it.

Totally.

Obviously, it's been so long.

Oh my gosh.

And so it's just been really fun to have an app. And a lot of the workouts in there are ones I've already done, but then there's new ones too that I'm like, oh, this is fun. This is just exciting. And so it doesn't feel like a chore as much anymore, which it was heading in that direction. And so yeah, it's an 8-week program and it's all the way up to my birthday. And my goal and intention for the fall as I dive into like really busy season is to still be very consistent with my workouts because I can tend to just like push out my eating habits and my workout habits and just work my life away in busy seasons. So we're not going to do that this year. I did really good at it last year as well for the most part. So that is one of my intentions.

Oh, I love that. Oh, which program are you doing? Are you doing Alive 1.0 or 2.0?

Strong 2.0 though with Whitney.

Strong. Okay, I'm doing Alive. The program is called Alive 1.0. Okay, so, and I'm on week 2 and I'm really liking it. I, I love the app. I also love Whitney Simmons.

Yes, she's amazing.

Yes, her and then Libby is another, um, uh, like fitness woman that I follow and she also has a couple of programs on there as well.

And yes, That's exciting.

Are you looking at frequency for your movement goals? Are you trying to like, I want to go to the gym and lift X amount of times a week? Or are you looking at like, yeah, just curious what that is.

Yeah, the goal is to stick to the program, which is it alternates between 4 days a week and 5 days a week and it goes back and forth.

Yeah.

But I am trying also to, on the days that I'm not there, to walk, or even the days that I am there, to walk more. And so especially as fall approaches, for me, stress and being in nature are just like a great counterfeit to each other. And so I'm trying— I guess I'm jumping into my next intention, but like trying to spend more time outside in the fall time, in the mornings, in the evenings, walking to just ground myself through the stress.

Yeah, let's talk about that more, um, because I have one that actually connects to that too.

We'll just merge ours together.

Merge them.

We'll make a soup. I love that. We'll make a big combination soup.

Um, okay, my next one is hosting. So I'm hosting my first book club here in a couple weeks. I want to host a Friendsgiving. I want to host a few like potluck vibes. This fall. So yeah, I just want to invite more people into my home and like, hey, come over, we'll make pizzas, or like bring your favorite snack, or like let's play board games, like have a game night. Um, so yeah, that's something I really want this fall. Summer is a very busy time for a lot of people, like filled with a lot of travel.

Mm-hmm.

And I feel like it kind of dies down September, October, early November. And then picks back up for the holidays. So I also think like it'll be a nice time where most of my friends in Houston are actually gonna be here. So I'm excited about that. And then also when you're hosting, it's a great way to be like, hey, and bring a friend. And then they bring a friend and then you are meeting more people outside of just your little bubble. So I'm gonna be in my hosting era this fall.

I love that. A question for you, does, um, hosting destress you and like bring you life more than it doesn't. Like, for me, I can't possibly think of hosting until like November. Like, that was just— I'm hosting this coming weekend and I'm already like anxious about it. Now that I don't love hosting, I just like have a stressful weekend or week that I like— I don't, I don't necessarily want that until like the holidays. Sure.

No, I get that because like we're also hosting my parents Um, next month as well. So I don't know, I think I've been able to switch my mindset about that. It used to be something that really overwhelmed me, and now it's something that, like, having our home and having our living space, like, it's a place I want to build and host community here. So I think it depends on, like, how— I mean, am I hosting a Thanksgiving-level dinner? That would stress me out. Yeah, like, hey, we're— I'm gonna make, you know, a soup and host a game night. That's very like very chill, come over, like more low-key. So I think it depends on what it is.

Yeah, fair enough. I love that. I'm learning. I feel like that's something I need to learn is to take a lighter approach to it because I love having people over and I love hosting. I don't love prepping for it or cleaning up it or spending like a lot of money on them. Like, it's like a lot of— I mean, just in my family alone, it's like hundreds of dollars to just feed like 12 people, you know?

Yeah, of course, of course. Like, I think that's a huge factor. Something else is like, maybe it was a TikTok I saw or something online, but it's like real friends let other friends into their mess. And I think there's something about hosting that I am trying to kind of loosen up the tight hold that I have on my perception.

Hmm.

So it's like, oh, I want to go to— I don't want to have people to my house and be like, everything about Alexis and her life is perfect. Like, no. Maybe there's some dust. Maybe there's some, like, I need to pick up this area of my house. It's just like letting people see parts of your humanity. And I think that's a level of stress that can be added to hosting.

Yeah.

Where like everything has to be clean, everything has to be perfect. I need to have all the right resources and the tools and the food and like everything just has to be just so. And I think that's something that's helped me want to host more is like, you're going to see my mess.

Yeah.

That's okay. Like you're going to see me as a whole person, not just what I want you to see.

I love that. I love that so, so much. I think that's such a refreshing way to look at hosting for sure.

Yeah, we gotta love the internet. Um, okay, you, you next. Um, mine.

So I think mine's more on the business front, but I have wanted to be more consistent with posting content online and posting my work. And so especially over the summer, I worked a lot and did a lot of sessions and just didn't really have the time or bandwidth to post all of them. So I'm so behind on sharing work that I love that I created and the people that I created with. And I've just— instead of just sharing sneak peeks from a wedding day, there's so many other beautiful moments of the wedding day that I don't ever share and that I just see when I'm editing. So, um, yeah, so my, my fall intention is just to Stop waiting until I have everything super perfect to post and do the thing. It's just like, let's just post it and go. Post every day. Consistency over perfection. And yeah, just kind of helping gear up for the next year as well in business. This is the best time to go all in before the holidays and all of that. So that's where I'm at.

Yeah. That's exciting. How do you plan out content?

So I right now have like, basically I plan different buckets that I want to hit. So one of them will be like sharing my work. Another one will be like sharing about my team. Another one will be like educating photographers. Another one will be like tips for wedding, like people who are getting married. Um, and so depending on those buckets and that intentionality for the month, Then I will try to keep that pretty balanced throughout the month and then do that throughout, throughout. And then like as I'm consuming content and going through the month, then I'll come up with new ideas. And so I'll add them to the calendar and sometimes there's just too much in the calendar. So I'll shift them over to the following month, but there's somewhere where they all live. And it's like in my, in my close radar rather than just A dump somewhere in my brain where it used to live.

I like the, like, content pillars of, like, these different buckets that you share on. Are you using a specific tool to keep track of the pieces of content? Like, are you, are you pre-planning them in, like, a scheduling tool? Or do you just have, like, a list somewhere of, like, I need to share from this wedding, I need to share from this, like, marketing client?

Yeah, so I just use Notion and I use, like, the calendar view of it. So I created like a new file based on the calendar and then I will add to the certain days like when I'm going to share what. And so I also looked at what shoots I have this month. And then a week from that already put it in of like, okay, share sneaks from this wedding, share sneaks from this branding session. And then like probably 3 days later, like 5 things you need for your next branding session type of thing. Oh, that was the other pillar is sharing more of my branding work that I shoot all the time for content for clients and haven't posted it. So that's one other pillar that I have for the month to just kind of keep that consistent.

Okay. That's really cool. Yeah. I was just curious how you organize it mentally and then how you organize it logistically in your tools.

Yeah. I love a calendar. Yes.

Okay. My next one is getting back into running and being outside, which is like touching on one of yours is like being in nature. It's been— I know, I know you've heard, if you listen to the pod, you have heard me lament on the heat in Houston, but this week actually in the mornings, it's actually been like not as humid. So it actually has a nice little light fluffiness to the air. I don't know how to explain it. It's not cool. But it's just not humid.

Yeah.

And I'm like, oh, I could run in this. Like, this is so much better. So I really want to pick up running again this fall. I also really only enjoy running outside. And so that's why I've just taken a break from it. I think the last time I went on like an actual run for a couple of miles was in June. So I've just taken the last 2 months off and then Matthew and I are running another 10K, um, on Thanksgiving. So we're doing the Houston Turkey Trot.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah, last year we did the 5K and that's what like sparked me wanting to run. And so I think it'll just be so cool to go back this year and do the 10K, um, just of how much my mindset has changed around running. So yeah, I'm gonna start running this month in October and November and just being outside more, going on more walks with Piper, like It really helps me break up my day and it, with the time change coming in November, I kind of want to get ahead of like lots of outside time before it starts getting dark so soon. So I've also been thinking about subbing out some of my morning workouts with a morning walk with Piper, like once or twice a week. So yeah, I'm excited about the fall and just like, I love lifting. But I also find myself this summer, I'm really missing cardio movement. I want to walk and I want to run, but I'm also like, it's 100 degrees out, I'm not doing it.

Absolutely.

So I'm excited for that.

Yeah, I'm excited for you. I feel like just having that outdoor time, yet also doing that physical activity just feels, I don't know, light and your strength just gets better. So pumped. And also, yay for running a 10K.

Yeah. So I did it in March and then it was amazing. Yeah. And I, we like trained for it for about 2 months and now I'm gonna like start training for the next 10K. So I'll have run 2 10Ks this year, which is exciting. More than last year.

Last year I ran zero. Absolutely. That's in, that's, I don't even know if like a lot of people even run it in their lifetime, like a 10K. So the fact that you're doing 2 in 1 year, Does Piper run with you guys?

She does run with us. She, her cap is about 3 miles though.

Okay.

So when we're doing like long distance runs past 3 miles, it's just, she really struggles to keep up. But she's also, she's gotten kind of fluffy this summer with, uh, less activity. So I think she's looking forward to us taking her for more walks too. She's been hibernating.

She's like, I might be a 1-mile girly at the beginning.

We're not gonna like just go right into a 3-miler with her, but yeah, I think she's gonna be excited about the, the more physical activity.

Yes, yes, I love that so much. Um, yeah, I mean, along the same lines, for me it's more spending time outside, and I've included quite a bit of it in the summer, but there's just something about fall and the fall weather in the Midwest. Like right now we're starting to get the High of 70s, low of 50s for this coming weekend.

You are?

Yes, this weekend is going to be nice. Oh my God. So I really, really want to spend more time outside. And my boyfriend loves to grill and he has been an absolute angel. And on these evenings I've had to work, he's like, let me just take care of dinner. And that's just how he likes to cook. So I'll sit outside and work on my phone and do stuff. And then he just cooks while I'm outside too. And so it's just been really nice. I feel like just grilling out more, being outside, grounding myself, going for more walks, enjoying nature, um, is just a huge priority. And I think for me, I tend to explore nature more for my clients.

Mm-hmm.

And while I'm in sessions and I'm like, oh, this place is so beautiful and the trees and like, but I am focused on creating and on what's gonna be the best thing for them. So I think on the few days that I have off, just really going on nature walks to enjoy the fall colors for me and for no productivity reason other than to just enjoy it. So, yeah, I'm excited for that. I'm excited for the lighter and cooler weather and, yeah, just feeling that peacefulness that colder air can give you.

Yes, for sure. Oh, I'm so excited for your weekend. High of 70, low of 50. That's ideal.

It truly is.

For the next 10 days, I like stalk the weather. This is another like Midwestern thing, but I look at the weather updates every day of like, okay, what's the next day of the 10-day forecast? And so we're high of 90s, low of 70s. Um, for the next like 10 days, but we're no longer in the hundreds, so that's a win. We're— progress, babe.

Oh my gosh, I, I mean, you literally lived in a hot yoga class all of summer.

I truly did.

Um, your pores have been opened.

My pores are open. Yeah, that's a big thing. It's actually not on my list of intentions, I'll just like mention it, but I got a facial this past week, and I was from Italy. I had a really bad acne flare-up, probably from just diet and alcohol. But I mean, it was like I had not had an acne flare-up that bad in over a year. So I got a facial, and it really helped just like regulate. She used a high-frequency wand on me, and I got rid of a lot of the bacteria that. Bad bacteria on my face. And I was like, okay, we're gonna get back into our— every 6 weeks I would get either a facial or a massage. And I'm picking that back up this fall. Like, okay, every 6 weeks planning either skincare or muscle care. So yeah, I've gotten out of that routine since this spring. And I want to get back into it because it like genuinely helps So much, as you know.

Absolutely. I love that one. What is your next intention?

Yes, more acts of service and showing love to people in my life. Oh, I feel like I'm a relatively selfish person.

I would not say that.

I would not. I know I would not say like full-on selfish, but I think Something I would like to work on is just being more visible with my love and care for people in my life. And how I do that is through acts of service or gifts.

Hmm.

And sometimes words of affirmation. But I really want to work on that this fall and winter of like, okay, your birthday is in 2 months. I want to start thinking about what I'm going to get you for your birthday now. Which I do already know, and I'm very excited to give it to you.

Wait, you already have it picked out?

I already have it picked out.

I feel so loved already.

Like, I— and then like Kate's birthday and Jess's birthday are in December, and so like Kelly's birthday's in November. I have a lot of friends whose birthdays are coming up, and I want to do things or get them things that like— I want to— I don't want I'm tired of last-minute Alexis coming in, and it's like it like maybe lacks intention or it lacks foresight, and it's like I still got you something or I still did something, but was it full of like intention and care and thought? And that's something I'm really working on. So yeah, I want to do more of that this fall. Like someone mentioned my brother-in-law. Just moved to a new apartment in a new city and he's really into bonsai. And whenever we were in Colorado, I overheard him talking to one of his uncles about how he wants to build like a bonsai collection in his apartment. And he was like, yeah, there's this book called Bonsai 101 on Amazon that I've been looking at and I really want to get it, but I just haven't yet. And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to get him this book. And, you know, it's like under— it's like $10. And it's like, it's a housewarming gift. It's an I'm thinking of you gift. It's something that you really want but haven't gotten yourself gift. Like things like that. I just want to be that person. And I think I can get really focused on like my goals and my habits and like my life that I'm not always— I don't have my radar up and like listening to what other people might need or desire. And like, is that something I could do for them? That is low cost and just really lets them know how much I care about them.

Oh my gosh.

So I'm working on it. Anyways, I sent it to him. I love that. He didn't see the little gift receipt. So he took a picture of the book, put it in the family group chat, and was like, is someone in here responsible for this? And then he opened up the book and I guess the little gift note fell out and he was like, this is my favorite book I own right now. I'm so excited. He was so excited. It meant so much to him and it took not very much time to buy it for him, send it to him. So I want to do more things like that.

Oh my gosh. I love that. You have inspired me. And in a way I'm like, yeah, all my intentions for follow-up are about me.

I mean, all the rest of mine are about me too. But it's like, okay, I want to start keeping track of all my friends' birthdays. Coffee orders, like keep a notes, like keep a note with all my friends' names and their coffee order next to it. And so next time I'm in town or whatever, like I know your order and the milk preference and the this you know like just stuff like that.

Yeah.

That I don't know. It just goes the extra layer where I would not be who I am without the people in my life, and I just want to show them how much I care about them with my time, with my money, with my energy, with my intention. So I am stepping the game up.

I love that.

This is your 30s, thinking about others.

I really— you've inspired me, and I feel like I've always wanted to be that person that sends cards and like does the thoughtful things. And I feel like I am a thoughtful person, but it's usually tied to like a specific event or like an anniversary or a birthday or something. But past that, like, I struggle to think of it until somebody does it for me. Like, my friend Molly just sent me this— like, she saw me playing sequins like the past week. She sent me the jumbo sequins, and I was like, this just made my day. Like, I've been telling everyone about it. And like you said, it's something small. It makes your day. It's so thoughtful. And also it takes time, and it's just like the sweetest, biggest hug to just receive that. So you've inspired me. I feel like we need to do like an episode or something like that on how to implement that or how to be more intentional with the people in your life. And yeah, I used to have a budget for it actually, like in my early 20s.

Oh my gosh.

And so it would either be like the people in my life or I would use that like if I met a really great server, or whenever I was out and I was like, I just feel inclined to like bless them with this money. That's what I would use it for. And this conversation has just really inspired me to add that back into the budget. And I feel like adding it and having it right there makes it more feasible, at least for me, to implement than keeping that elusive. So yeah, you've inspired me. I'm gonna, I'm gonna add that as a— Fall slash 2024 intention.

Yeah, I love it. We should do like a, um, love languages episode.

Yes, yes, yes, that's the next theme. We'll do it the first quarter for, um, for like the Valentine's Day. I feel like doing like the love languages would be great.

I love that we're already picking our themes for February 2024. Yes, love the foresight. Okay, what about you? That was my— I have one more after this, but you go.

Okay, I have one last one. And for me, it's just having an earlier wake-up time. And so it's not that I wake up late, but whenever life is so busy, it's like I'll wake up at like 6:30 and then I'll get ready and then start work around like 7:30 or 8:00. And it can just feel— I've noticed it adds to my anxiety to just Wake up, get ready, and like I have been slacking a little bit on my morning routine that really helps me to even if it's ten minutes of sitting outside and sipping the coffee or working on like my declarations and like prayer time and meditation. I've been slacking on that, and so my fall intention as stress goes up and anxiety goes up is take extra thirty minutes to wake up earlier and then just feel. peaceful. My goal is just to feel peace every morning, or most mornings, before the chaos of the day, you know, kind of takes over of everything. And I feel like it's a small change that I can make that doesn't take me more money, that just takes an extra few minutes, and that I'm going to intentionally do to try to help myself during this stressful time.

Hmm. I love that. Yeah, the goal being peace. That's, that's really powerful. Yeah, the morning routine, waking up early, it's, it's an ebb and flow. I feel like it's not something that just happens one day. Like, I think it's something that I— before Italy, I was really slacking on my wake-up time. Like, I would start to snooze and start to snooze. And this, when I got back from Italy, I was using jet lag too as like helping me to get up, but I'm like, just having that consistency of like, this is when I wake up, get it, get giving myself space to do me before the workday, it just like changes the entire vibe of the day. Yeah. Um, so I'm excited that you're doing it. Have— do you have a Hatch alarm clock?

I have like the dupe, like from Amazon.

Okay.

And I haven't used it. Um, that would be like another fall intention is like not scroll as much before bedtime, but I want to use that alarm clock more.

Yeah. Does it have the sunrise function?

Mm-hmm.

Okay. Yeah. See, that's like, I don't know what it is, but that hits for me in the morning is I'm like, okay, we're up. Like we're up like a little rooster, you know, like the sun starts to come up.

Okay. I need to use it. I just don't use it.

Because it's like, it's dark and cozy in my bed. I'm gonna stay here. Why would I get up? Yeah, but with the light in the room, it really helps. Um, my last one is making more room for creativity, specifically in October and November. Um, I have a very busy rest of September, um, but there are a lot of projects I want to work on, taking on a handful of new coaching clients Um, in October, November, like would like to and want to put out a couple of like goal habit-oriented workbooks for free and continue working on like the Deeper Life newsletter. There's just like things I would really like to do more consistently, but don't necessarily have the habits or the systems built up to do that consistently. So I want to work on that in October and November, work on the book, just like make margin for creating things and working on my side business, um, just before the new year, because I know that the holidays get so busy and I just want to feel like I've given myself and the Deeper Life business space this fall. Like, I don't want to end 2023 feeling like I do right now, and so I want to take those 2 months to focus on building out some systems and just feel more secure, and then go into the new year feeling really confident.

I love that so much. I feel like that end-of-year wrap-up and like strong finish can set us up so well for what 2024 will hold. And I mean, you are the habits queen. We, we need all the secrets. We need all the things that you're going to teach us in October, November. I have peeked at the workbooks and they are absolutely amazing. And so I'm excited for you to launch those, to share those. And especially as everyone starts thinking through what does next year look like for me, like, that's going to be huge to have access to.

Yeah, it's kind of like a start now energy, like not waiting until, you know, January to start whatever it is you want to start. Like this fall, what can you start implementing What small changes can you make? What things might you want to start doing, stop doing now and not feel like you have to wait and, oh, I'll do that in 3 months.

Yeah.

It's like, what are some small things you can do now and really feel like you're ending the year on your terms and not like, oh, it's been a stressful, busy, hard year and next year will be better. I'll just like implement things then. Um, and I think that can be, um, Kind of a revolving door kind of mindset where it just spirals into the same kind of like day over and over again.

It does. It really does. Yeah, I love that. Well, that wraps up our fall intentions. We invite you to take some time the rest of this month to decide what it is that you want for fall. Maybe this is also a busy season for you like it is for both of us, but there is always and should always be time for you and what you want to do and what you find important in your life and the importance of not waiting until busy season is over, not waiting until 2024 starts to hit that reset button. Like, let's enjoy life now in the midst of all the craziness around us. So I hope that you take some time to do that. I hope that this has inspired you. And if you feel inclined to do so and you've been enjoying the podcast, be sure to leave us a review. You can connect with us on our personal Instagrams while we get our Instagram back.

Our podcast Instagram is still hacked. Um, we are working with someone from Meta, um, Sarah, who follows the pod, listens to the pod. She works for Meta, so she's helping us get access to it.

Shout out to Sarah.

Yeah, shout out to Sarah. I still believe that it's possible that we will get our account back. Also, they up— they hacked my Facebook and they hacked my Netflix. Oh, they hacked like my MSN account that was linked to a lot of my different like tools. And my MSN account is like so old that whenever I was starting a lot of these tools, like it's just connected to that email.

Yeah.

So I like have been changing all my emails, but yeah, they hacked my Facebook. I have not gotten that back. And we finally got our Netflix back, but isn't that crazy? Like what? Why do people do what they do? Anyways, connect with us personally. Yeah, Astra, do you share your handle?

So mine is @astrajohannaphoto on Instagram.

And mine is @alexisteichmiller. Thank you so much for being here. We love you and we'll catch you next week.