I don’t know what it is about these beautiful autumn days that makes me introspective, retrospective and various other -spectives. I know we’re still a week and a half away from the official first day of autumn, but I can’t help but think about it with beautiful weather surrounding me this weekend.

These cool days make me think of, as I refer to it now, the first time I went to college. After spending the majority of every autumn I could recollect in a classroom, it was such a wonderful surprise to experience the outdoors between classes on a fall day. Or maybe I just finally appreciated the beauty.

I spent four lovely years in Montgomery, Ala. to obtain my first bachelor’s degree at a small liberal arts school called Huntingdon College.

My freshman year I lived in one of the four suite rooms in my residence hall. This meant while our bedrooms were the same size as everyone else’s, we had a huge living room right in the corner of the ‘L’ shaped building.

Our view was of the fire station across the street and the football field just beyond the station, and I remember staring out those open windows at the sun sinking behind the trees on Sunday afternoons. All the students’ families had gone back home after a Saturday of football, and the students who skipped town for the weekend weren’t quite back yet. The quiet made it seem like everyone else was taking a nap in preparation of the week before them.

I loved the cozy feeling those Sunday afternoons had; it was rejuvenating somehow. It was a time filled with self-discovery. I was able to learn who I was and really think about my own beliefs and opinions on subjects outside of myself.

How I miss those days.

I read once the autumnal equinox is a good time to look inward and work on ourselves. It’s a time to process the growth we experience outwardly during the summer season. It is an opportune time to learn from our own shortcomings as we retreat from the outside. I hope everyone is able to take the time to do those things for their own mental health.

I would love to be outside on a walk or bike ride, reading a book or exploring town, but the news never stops and work continues to call. For now, I’m just happy sitting here in front of my open window looking out and remembering what once was.

But as I watch the trees whose leaves are slowly starting to darken and fall with a light cool breeze bringing the sweet smell of autumn in my living room, just as I did nine years ago, I’m excited for what’s to come.