This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Auburn chapter.

Fall is coming which means one thing — self-care gets completely forgotten about.

Most people seem to only be motivated to practice self-care when bikini season is right around the corner and forget about it when sweater season starts approaching; here are a few tips to keep the personal care momentum going even when the pools start closing.

Eat the sugar cookies

You know which ones I’m talking about — the ones with the cute little ghosts on them that stare at you with their cute purple eyes (also known as the cookies that you can eat 50 of and your stomach will still feel as though you haven’t had any). You want to eat them, so eat them. Don’t be afraid of the fall treats that make their rounds this time of year — there is absolutely nothing wrong with a pumpkin spice latte every once in awhile.

Take the time to watch scary movies

It’s the season of cramming and all-nighters. Classes just started, but somehow midterms are right around the corner (terrifying, right?). Don’t let the mountains of homework and study guides take you from your “me time”. You probably haven’t noticed, but Netflix has slowly been updating their Horror and Thriller sections since September. There are fall movies ranging from Coraline (which is a completely underrated movie) to The Conjuring that are perfect for a few hours of mindless unwinding.

Light the pumpkin scented candle

One of my absolute parts of summer is the end — the point when all of the Halloween and fall decorations are at a super-low price because no one has even begun to think that far ahead. Do yourself a favor and pick-up the fall candles and pumpkin-shaped bath and save them for a rainy and stressful day (or use them up within the same week you get them, of course).

Take advantage of the leaves changing

Another truly beautiful thing about the fall is, you know, the actual “falling” that happens. Take half an hour from your day to go for a walk or run outside. It is the point in the year when classes start getting extremely overwhelming and sometimes the solution is to put everything down and walk away from it. There’s no better time to get into an exercise routine than the fall semester. Since everything outside is changing, it is motivation for you to change with it.

Take a Target trip

Every year at the start of the holidays there are tweets that circulate about someone’s S,O. basically buying out the dollar section at Target and surprising them with candy corn-patterned socks, flannel blankets and cheesy Disney Halloween movies. One thing that I have learned is that you do not need one of those movie-moments when you need a pick me up. Spoil yourself — you deserve it.

Go pumpkin picking

Don’t let your calendar start emptying when the cooler weather starts rolling in and the warm-weather activities start to slowly disappearing. There are a ton of fall-only activities that become available as early as late August. Take this time to try something new like going to a haunted house or a farm with a pumpkin patch. They are super fun and limited time (and not to mention they make the perfect instagram photo-ops).

Fall Self-Care Tips