Monday, 9/8/25: Talking about September planning

Happy Monday!

It’s a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter.

Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday and some positive thoughts to get your week started.

Three Steps to a Happier Monday

Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.  

Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend? 

Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?

Step 3: What is my intention for this week? 

GRATITUDE: From my weekend, I am thankful for beautiful weather, a nice mix of productive and relaxing activities and good nights of sleep (harder and harder to come by these days!).  

TODAY: I had some new maternity clothes arrive in the mail yesterday that are suitable for colder weather. So today, I’m most excited to try them on and see what fits!  

INTENTION: My intention this week is to embrace slowness where I can.

Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

Meaningful Musings: September Intentions

Well, it’s official, friends. We’ve entered the “-ber” months.

I don’t know how it feels where you live, but here in Indianapolis, fall is in the air. September finally ushered in some relief from the relentless summer heat and humidity. I’ve had the windows open every day and have even started reaching for a long sleeve or light sweatshirt on my morning walks. Telltale sign of seasons changing! 

While I’m personally saving my pumpkin candles and baking until October 1, I’ve felt the pull to lean into fall earlier than usual. I normally feel a bit melancholy with the start of September / the end of summer, but not this year… probably because this fall means finally meeting our baby!

I’m also grateful for a seasonal shift because, truthfully, I need one myself. After a thankfully very normal and relatively easy first and second trimester, the third trimester has come with a couple of surprises (again, thankfully, all relatively normal). I’m heeding the signs though and taking it as my body’s way of telling me to slow down these next six weeks.

So, I’m declaring this month Slow September. Slow isn’t exactly my default (or favorite) setting, which makes planning and intentionally thinking about it all the more important.

Here’s what that looks like for me this month:

September 2025 Goals & Intentions 

+ Sketch out an “ideal week.” Funnily enough, I found this exercise in my September goals from both 2023 and 2024. Apparently, I feel the pull to do it this time of year! And it makes sense: September always shifts routines (end of Summer Fridays at work, new rhythms, etc.), so it’s a great opportunity to think about how’d you like to spend your time. 

This year feels unique, though, because I’m only designing what my “ideal week” would look like for the next six weeks. By late October, everything will change. Somehow, the fleeting nature of that makes this feel freeing.

+ Embrace hard stops in my day. While looking for ideas on ways to slow down, I found this blog post and was intrigued by the idea of protecting “hard stops” throughout the day. 

The author of the post writes: 

“I’m also (trying to) become diligent about protecting the hard stops in my day. At 7:00 a.m., I stop what I’m doing and either get ready to leave home or leave for a run, depending on the day. At noon, we break for lunch. 2 – 4:00 p.m. is my hard stop for mentally demanding work. I get off the computer, no matter what, and the kids have their own rest time to regroup and recharge. At 9:00 p.m., I’m done with the computer for the day.”

I love the idea of experimenting with this and thinking about what my “hard stops” are for when I do my morning movement, take a lunch break, rest after work and get in bed at night. More than anything, I think it will be a helpful way to protect rest instead of letting it get deprioritized. 

+ Keep chipping away at nesting projects on the weekends. Matt and I made a giant list of pre-baby nesting projects, which now lives on our kitchen bulletin board. Each weekend we pick a few and tackle them together. It’s been motivating to see the list shrink as we cross things off, and it makes the countdown feel a little more real.

+ Curate a cozy fall TBR (to-be-read) list. Reading is one of the easiest ways for me to slow down. And the easiest way to make sure I’m reading? Have a stack of books at the ready that I’m genuinely interested in. It always amazes me how much more time I find to read when I’m hooked on a great book.

For the summer, I had so much fun making a TBR list and loved how it reduced decision fatigue of “what should I read next?.” I want to make another for fall! Bring on the cozy books!   

That’s what’s on my radar for Slow September. What about you? What are you looking forward to this month? 

From the archives: September 2022 | September 2023 | September 2024

Picture of the Week

That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this! 

Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan