A disjointed train of thought around seasons and holidays and how my second week of no social media is going.

04 Oct, 2026

October is probably my favourite month. I am a little biased, as it's my birth month, but there's just something a bit special about it. It's lovely weather - still cool enough to wear my beloved winter clothes but with that hint of warm Spring air carrying the sweet scents of blossoming trees and flowers. That breeze that always seems to rustle up some feeling of excitement and anticipation for the Summer, sparking a bit of motivation and whatnot. How about a spring clean! I want all of the cupboards to be organised.

I think this seasonal change must trigger some deep-down memory of school holiday anticipation, back when Summer equalled the long Christmas school holidays, back when they seemed to go on forever and there was nothing else to do but hang out with friends in town and spend a load of time outdooors at the beach or exploring some waterfalls down the end of a dirt track. It was totally acceptable to veg at home all day playing on The Computer, or to redecorate and reorganise my bedroom with no other plans. Days were long and slow and there was nowhere to be, nothing pressing to do.

Now, for me at least, Summer comprises of unbearable heat ("this is the coolest Summer of the rest of your life"), tiring days at work (I work in the elements), stressful holiday-season travel (family is all interstate), not enough time off, and too many people everywhere. That last one is all year round though, I suppose. I crave the type of Summer where I can stay home, have slow mornings, maybe pop down to the beach if I so feel like it, maybe catch up with some friends. So, as I feel this warm Spring breeze starting up again and experience the anticipation that it brings, I am really going to make an effort for my weekends to become mini Summer holidays. I'm going to try and have less plans, more spontenaety, and hopefully less stress.

To me, October feels like a month of change and shifting energy; Spring has fully sprung, and it has become an opportunity to reflect on the winter and look ahead at what kind of person I want to "bloom" into for the next season. I guess it aligns well with my birthday as well, for me to have a think about what I want my next year of life to look like. Lately I've been learning more about how to care for my garden, when to feed it and protect it and prepare it for its next stages, and in doing that, as I notice the seasons and the changes they bring, I think I'm getting better at noticing the seasons and changes in myself as well.

My social media break is going well enough, though I'm still finding myself scrolling Reddit and occasionally TikTok even though they don't do it for me much anymore either. For some reason Reddit has decided I might be interested in some very strange subreddits, so I find myself shaking my head and closing the app after a few minutes. I'm working on finding other interesting things to read about online, organising my many photos, jotting down some ideas for this blog, and planning for our trip to Japan next weekend.

I don't feel like I'm struggling without social media much at all, but I do find that I'm needing to adjust to a little bit of FOMO while I'm not seeing what everyone's up to on their Stories and such. The past few days I have found myself missing the ol' insta scroll, wondering if what I was feeling was loneliness because I'm not "included" on social media anymore, but as I turned these feelings around in my head I reminded myself that I've had some really nice social outings and conversations this past fortnight, and that my day-to-day life is still very normal and very fulfilled. It's a strange new thing to be untangling myself from social media and there's still a long way to go.

That's all for now. Happy Sunday!