Through all the seasons of the year, fall has always been one of my favorite seasons. Everything we do, everything we eat and watch during the fall season changes; preparing us for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and then the new year!
All the leaves begin to change colors, so I spent most of my days outside, taking photos. It's not too hot (unless global warming is causing it to be eighty degrees when it should be about sixty), but chilly enough to start wearing more long pants and sweaters. Drinking those pumpkin spice lattes or other hot drinks and decorating our homes is something that always brings such a positive cheer and exciting feeling to the season. The orange, the yellow, the green, the purple, it all just becomes even more alive with color because it's everywhere and surrounding us!
Something really fun to do during the changing season from summer to fall is going somewhere usually in the Midwest, close to us, like Wisconsin or Michigan to see all the leaves changing or to go hiking, pumpkin picking, leaf jumping and much more to really experience the fall season! While there you also see lots of different animals, preparing for winter by flying south or just burrowing into the ground, gathering those supplies they need to survive.
Birds Fly South For The WinterPhoto By Alana Charboneau
Flowers Blowin' In The WindPhoto By Alana Charboneau
Fall is also the perfect time of the year to get some nice portrait photos of yourself, you, and your friends or even family! My mom never lets me forget about those Christmas cards that go out every year because we always try to take a nice family photo. Pick a spot that gives you sunlight, but also has a lot of trees for the fall setup. Capturing the beauty of the skies and nature during each season is what I am living for! Sunsets are claimed to be even more beautiful during this time of the year and I am not complaining. With more sunsets means more portrait photography, so if you ever need/want your photos taken, let me know!
I Spy With My Little Eye Photo By Alana Charboneau
Two Tree HillPhoto By Alana Charboneau
Around this time of the year, I find it really important to express to all family and friends about how really thankful I am for being a part of all their lives and then being a part of mine. Over the past few years, around the time of Thanksgiving, my family and I have struggled to see and really feel the good weather and good spirits. We lost a few family members that were and always will be very significant to our lives. Now, we do our best to see the holidays as a hopeful and heart filled time in remembrance of them. Knowing they are always with us now makes the fall season much more special. We continuously come together as a family for each holiday, no matter what happens. With family around, I think I find myself appreciating everything I have. I appreciate the days that I can wake up in the morning and feel happy and healthy. I also appreciate the bad days because they all matter. We spend a whole year so focused on ourselves; focused on everything we need to do to get to where WE (ourselves) want to be, but we forget about the significance of people in our life. We forget that other people are going through similar or worse things and we never consider, maybe they can help us just as much as we may be able to help them; if we are willing to. They matter, and in fact, they can really take part in a majority of the things we do because we are influenced by everything around us.
During this fall season and upcoming New Year, I plan to do a lot for others. Starting by being more kind to everybody you meet, to practicing positive thinking and positive affirmations, hopefully, people will do the same in return. I think by really getting involved in helping others, not just around Illinois State but back at home as well, it will really change lives and give people something more to believe in! With everything happening on the news recently, people want to focus on bigger, better and way more important things. I know by doing bigger and better for others, I can also help myself and feel even better about myself. Take the time out of each day to make someone smile. Whether you buy them a nice new fall drink or go on a walk with them into the changing leaves, it can relieve stress and sometimes, it really changes people.