Slow October: How to Actually Enjoy the Season

If you want a slow october and you also have a job, kids and a full mailbox, the trick is to stop trying to slow down your whole life and slow down one hour of it instead.

In this post I’m sharing 10 small, realistic ways to do that, plus the things I’ve stopped doing every autumn.

The slow october isn’t a big project at all but it’s a handful of small decisions, made before the month gets going.

I was born on October 23, so I’m not objective here. This is the most beautiful and the most colorful month of the year for me, and I still managed to spend a good decade of it in a hurry, indoors, looking at a screen.

Finally, the September chaos has settled. The kids are back in their school rhythm, work has a shape again, and it just feels better to be at home or cooking something warm.

If you only have a few minutes – and you don’t feel like reading right now – then pay attention, because here is a very simple step that you can implement right now:

Pick an hour this week. You don’t have to dedicate an entire morning or a weekend to it, just one hour is enough.

This will be the hour that no one else can “touch” except you. In this one hour, do something that really fills your soul, that makes you renew or calm.

The secret is to repeat it regularly, week after week.

You will find in this post:

• 10 slow october ideas that are small enough to start tomorrow, each one with the practical version underneath
• the honest part after the list, what to pair with what, and the mistakes that quietly ruin a slow month

After that comes a saveable checklist, three tiny things to do tonight, and a long question and answer section.

10 Slow October Ideas That Fit Into a Real Week

None of these need a free weekend, just 20 minutes and a decision.

IDEA 1 OF 10

Take the same walk every week

There’s a forest a few minutes from our house, and I walk the same path in it almost every week. Same trees and muddy bit near, same turn where the light comes through sideways in October.

The repetition is the point. A new walk is an outing you have to plan.

The same walk stops being a plan and becomes a habit, and these habits survive busy months.

It also holds up under research. A large UK study found that people who spent at least 120 minutes a week in nature reported significantly better health and wellbeing, and it made no difference whether that time came in one long visit or several short ones.

Stanford researchers also found that a 90 minute walk in a natural setting lowered rumination, the looping worry kind of thinking, more than the same walk along a busy road.

Two hours a week is 17 minutes a day, which is a walk to the shop the long way.

Pick the route this week, that’ all.

IDEA 2 OF 10

Decorate with what the wind blows to your door

Every October, there’s a whole shelf of decorations waiting for you, and every October, the most beautiful things in our house are free.

Chestnuts in a shallow bowl, a few oak leaves. Two quinces on the kitchen windowsill that smell better than any candle I’ve ever bought.

In November, we compost what we can, and we store very little (this goes for decorations too). If we do store fall decorations, we choose ones that we can use for years, so there’s no unnecessary spending.

I guarantee you’ll soon realize that the most beautiful seasonal things were never in the store, but in your surroundings.

If you want the deeper version of this, the same logic runs through a beginner’s guide to mindful living, which is where I’d start if slow living is new to you.

Take a bag on the walk from the first idea and come home with a few interesting things. That’s your decor budget spent.

IDEA 3 OF 10

Move a lamp before you buy anything

The real change in October is the light, not the temperature. It gets low and warm and it comes in sideways.

Before buying a single autumn item, move one lamp. Put it on the floor next to the sofa instead of the side table. Turn the big overhead light off for a week and see if anyone in the house complains.

A room reads as cozy because of where the light sits, not because of how many textiles you’ve added to it.

If you want one object, make it a heavy wool throw you’ll still be using in March. A simple wool throw blanket beats four cushions in fake velvet, and it takes up less space in the cupboard.

One lamp moved does more for a room in October than a full shopping bag.

Tonight, switch off the ceiling light at 7 and see what the room looks like.

IDEA 4 OF 10

Cook a little longer than usual

There’s a version of autumn cooking that’s all 20 minute recipes, and there’s the version my mother and my grandmother did, where something sat on the stove for two hours.

Bean soup with smoked meat. Roasted root vegetables that go in. Stewed plums. Yummy!

The food isn’t the point, the smell in the house for the rest of the afternoon is the point.

You’re not standing over your food for hours, the stove is taking care of it. Instead, you’re doing homework with your kid at the kitchen table, and the food is cooking quietly behind you.

Slow cooking is one of the best ways to really enjoy life.

Choose the one dish you’ll make on Sunday and buy for it on Saturday. That way, you don’t have to do anything else on Sunday morning except cook something delicious for the family.

IDEA 5 OF 10

Write the whole school year on one page

Here’s the unglamorous one. By early October we know most of the school dates, the club days, the two or three trips, the parents evenings.

I write them on one sheet of paper and stick it inside a kitchen cupboard door. Then I stop opening the school app four times a day to check something I already know.

Most of my September stress wasn’t the schedule, it was checking the schedule.

This system takes 25 minutes and I can save a lot of time.

Phone apps are great, but sometimes the old, traditional methods work much better.

I’ve experienced this with school stuff, so I recommend this method for you too.

If your mornings are still the messy part, this pairs well with a flexible morning routine that survives a chaotic week.

Do it with pen and paper. A shared calendar that you’re constantly editing isn’t the same and it takes up a lot of your time.

IDEA 6 OF 10

Pick one thing you will not do until spring

You might be surprised at this point, but wait, let me explain what I mean.

Every October, I pick one thing I do regularly and don’t do it until March. They’re not big things, but often pretty simple, mundane tasks that we might not even notice because we do them on autopilot.

This year it was hospitality. Another year it was a volunteer role that I cheerfully said yes to. This year it’s video calls after 8pm.

There’s less to a season than you think, and the honest thing to do is decide what to skip.

If you’re worried about offending someone, missing out on something, or missing out on something, don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Trust me, I’ve gotten pretty good at saying no over the past 40+ years.

The thing you drop in October is the reason the rest of the month fits.

Name your one thing before the end of the week and just do it.

IDEA 7 OF 10

Make an afternoon of nothing

Not a rest afternoon, not a self care afternoon, not an afternoon with a book you’ve been meaning to read. An afternoon with nothing written in it.

This is harder than it sounds, and there’s a reason. Researchers at the University of Chicago found that people will invent a reason to stay busy rather than sit still, even when the busy option gets them nothing extra.

They call it idleness aversion, and the same work found that people are often happier once they’re occupied, which is exactly why we keep filling the gap.

So I don’t pretend I’ll sit and stare at a wall.

An empty afternoon is empty on paper, and then I fill it with whatever fits into my day. This is usually working in my garden, walking or playing with the kids, or baking something delicious to eat together.

The point is, there is nothing planned for the day. It is liberating for me, I recommend you try it too.

You may not be able to fit in an entire afternoon of doing nothing or doing things you didn’t plan ahead. That’s okay. Then spend an hour doing it, or as much as you can.

The point is to do nothing, to spend time without planning, when you are free to decide what you feel like doing.

Block out an afternoon (or an hour, if that’s all you have time for) in your calendar this month without a plan.

IDEA 8 OF 10

Repair one thing instead of replacing it

October is the month when the small broken things surface. The winter coat with the loose button, the boot with the split seam.

Fix one this month.

A repair takes 20 minutes and gives you the same feeling that buying something new.

Last October, I sewed the button back on my winter coat while a pot of soup was simmering on the stove. I still remember those moments because everything was so peaceful, even if only for a moment.

A repaired item can be used for years, and it also saves you money.

Put the broken item in a visible place, not in a drawer, so you always know what needs to be repaired.

IDEA 9 OF 10

Let the evening get dark on purpose

We switch on every light in the house at the first hint of dusk, then wonder why nobody in the family can settle by 10.

Try the opposite for a week. From about 7, only the lamps you actually need. One in the corner, one where somebody’s reading. Cheap unscented candles on the table while we eat.

The house gets quieter when it gets darker, and so do the people in it.

Our teenager still has his phone in his hand, so I’m not going to sell you a fairy tale. But the volume in our living room drops, and that’s worth it.

If evenings are your difficult part, these simple evening rituals go further than my one lamp rule does.

Tonight, turn off the overhead light at 7 . Just see who notices.

IDEA 10 OF 10

Remember the month, not the day

My birthday is on October 23 and for years it was one crowded evening with a cake and a lot of dishes.

Now I mark the month. A walk on a weekday that isn’t the birthday. The good coffee, on a Tuesday. A concert if there’s one worth going to. One year I got the thing I’d written down in my 20s, which was to walk in Central Park on my birthday in the New York autumn, and I cried in the middle of it like a very unsubtle European.

Anything you spread across four weeks gets remembered better than anything you cram into one evening.

Remember the month, not the day!

My birthday is October 23rd, and for years it was just one busy night with cake and lots of washing up.

Now I remember the month. A walk on a weekday, a good coffee with my girlfriend, or a concert worth going to.

Once – back in my twenties – I dreamed of walking in Central Park in autumn New York at the end of October. Then last year it happened. It was an incredible feeling to experience it and by the way, it all happened on my birthday, which I didn’t realize.

If you don’t limit your experiences to a single day, but even an entire month, you will remember them much better.

Just do three little things in three different weeks of October instead of one big thing.

What Nobody Says About a Slow October

The mainstream version of slow living in october is a photograph – mainly in Pinterest and on the social meda platforms. Wool socks, a book, rain on the window, nothing to do. That’s okay.

I live in Hungary with two kids, a garden and a job, and that photograph is not my October.

Slowing down isn’t a state I get to live in, it’s a decision I make about 4 or 5 specific hours a week.

The rest of the month is school runs and mud and a 16 year old who has opinions about from dinner to everything.

Researchers at Harvard and UBC found that people who spend money to buy back time report greater life satisfaction. Time is the thing we’re short of, and we usually spend it on things we don’t remember afterwards.

There’s a wider difference here that took me a while to see.

According to OECD data on hours worked, the average American worker puts in noticeably more hours a year than the average worker in Germany or France, and it isn’t because Europeans are lazy. It’s that time off is treated as normal, planned in, and not something you earn back.

You may not be able to change your working hours this month but you can absolutely decide that one hour on Wednesday is not up for negotiation.

6 Practical Tips That Make a Slow October Stick

This is the part I’d tell a friend over coffee, after she’d said yes to all of it and then done none of it.

Pair the new thing with something you already do

A slow october habit that stands on its own gets skipped by the 8th. Attach it. The walk goes after the school drop off, the pot on the stove goes on while homework is happening, the 15 minutes of tidying goes right after you put the kettle on.

Do the thinking on Sunday, not on the day

Ten minutes on Sunday to decide the walking route, the one dish and the untitled hour is worth more than any amount of good intentions on Wednesday morning.

If you like a bit of structure for this, my 21 item Sunday reset checklist covers the whole hour.

Do the wardrobe change in 15 minute pieces

A full seasonal wardrobe swap can be done in a few minutes. I do it quickly because we don’t have too many clothes, and that’s thanks to my minimalist mindset.

I only buy what I really need. If there are things we don’t use anymore, I either pack them away or donate them.

The rest of my thinking on this lives in my simple capsule wardrobe for every season.

Choose two ideas from this list

Don’t try to do everything at once, it won’t work. If you’re not sure which two, choose the walk and the untitled hour.

The mistakes worth avoiding

Buying slowness. A basket of candles doesn’t make October slower, it just makes it more expensive.

Schedule the slow thing for the end of the day when you have time (so you never have to). Turn it into a project with a sun tracker, a plan, and a printable. This isn’t another project (if you see it that way, forget it, throw it in the trash, no point) that you have to plan and do.

Slow living is a change in attitude.

Why is it worth it? Because our lives are so short, and the best thing to do is live it as it is, without plans or schedules.

Announce it as a new rule for the whole family. Do it quietly and let people get a taste of it.

If it rains for 10 days

Hungary can be relentlessly grey at the end of October, but we do the walk even then. The weather is not a problem.

You need good clothing: a waterproof jacket, rubber boots, that’s it. It’s usually better to walk at this time, because there’s no one else out on the street except us.

Slow October Checklist

Save this list somewhere you’ll find it on the first grey Monday of the month.

Save

Slow October: The Questions Readers Actually Ask

What does a slow october mean if I work full time?

A slow october for a full time worker means choosing 3 to 5 hours in the week and protecting those, rather than trying to change the pace of the whole month. The rest of your October will still be busy. The difference is that a few hours of it belong to you and get remembered.

Isn’t slow living just for people with money and free time?

Slow living costs less than the fast version, which is the part that gets left out of the pretty pictures. Walking the same route, cooking one pot of beans, moving a lamp and buying no autumn decor are all free or cheaper than what you were doing. The expensive version you see online is a shopping style, not slow living.

How do I slow down in October with small kids at home?

Slowing down with small children works when the slow thing includes them instead of waiting for them to be asleep. The weekly walk with a bag for chestnuts, the pot on the stove, the collecting and the candle at dinner all work with a 4 year old attached to your leg. The untitled hour is the one you’ll need help for.

What’s the difference between a slow october and just being lazy?

A slow october is choosing where your attention goes, and laziness is not choosing at all. One leaves you with a month you can describe afterwards. The other leaves you with four weeks of scrolling and a vague feeling that autumn happened somewhere nearby.

Do I need to buy anything to have a slow october?

You don’t need to buy anything for a slow october, and buying is usually the thing that stops it happening. If you already own a pot, a lamp and a coat, you have the full kit. The two items I’d argue for, a wool throw and a thermos, only make sense because they get used daily for six months.

I tried slow living before and lasted a week. What went wrong?

Most slow living attempts fail because they’re built as a new routine on top of a full life, not attached to something that already happens. Pick two ideas, tie each to an existing anchor like the school run or the kettle, and drop the rest. Two habits that survive beat nine that don’t.

What if the weather is terrible for the whole month?

Bad weather makes the outdoor part better rather than impossible, as long as you have a waterproof coat and low expectations. Grey days are also when the indoor half of this list carries the month, so the stove, the lamps and the repair jobs move to the front. October in central Europe is grey a lot of the time and it’s still the best month of the year.

How is a European October different from an American one?

The main difference is that in much of Europe autumn is treated as a normal working season with early sunsets and long dinners, rather than a decorating event with a defined start date. There’s less seasonal shopping and more seasonal cooking. The habits transfer either way, the shopping part is the one worth leaving behind.

Can I do this in November too, or is it an October thing?

Everything on this list works in November, and some of it works better once the clocks change and the evenings get properly dark. October is a better starting month because the weather still lets you outside without effort, and habits started in mild weather tend to survive the cold ones.

How long before a slow october actually feels different?

Most people notice a difference in the second week, once the walk has happened three times and stopped needing a decision. The first week feels like extra effort because you’re still deciding each time. That’s normal, and it’s the reason the route matters more than the schedule.

Recommended Reading

The art of slow productivity

A beginner’s guide to mindful living

Mental Sunday reset, how to clear your mind weekly

Conclusion

Last October I walked the same forest path several times.

I can tell you what the light did each time, which sounds ridiculous when written down, but it’s probably the only part of the month I can still describe in detail.

Of course, the spam emails didn’t disappear from my inbox, the number of meetings didn’t decrease, and neither did my chores around the kids. Yet I still remember these walks fondly, because back then I was really just myself. I didn’t care about anything else except finally being truly present in my own life.

Has anything changed? You’re right to ask.

I think a lot. I’ve become much calmer, which not only I but my family have noticed. I think it’s better for everyone.

So, I recommend it to you too, try it, you won’t regret it. The best part is that the whole argument for a slow October costs almost nothing.

Test it out for a few weeks, keep what you like, and let go of what you don’t.

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