10 Ways to Be Your Healthiest Best You This September

September has a way of bringing us back to our routines.

Summer schedules begin to settle down. Calendars fill up. School starts. Work gets busy. We start looking toward fall and, before we know it, the end of the year.

It's also a wonderful time to check in with yourself.

Not to completely overhaul your life.

Not to start another impossible routine you'll abandon in two weeks.

And definitely not to add ten more things to your already overflowing to-do list.

Instead, ask yourself a simple question:

What would help me feel healthier, stronger, calmer, and more like myself right now?

Being your Healthiest Best You isn't about a number on a scale, how many steps you took today, or whether you remembered to put chia seeds in something.

Health is bigger than that.

It's how you sleep. How you eat. How you move. How you manage stress. How you speak to yourself. Who you spend time with. What you give your attention to. Whether you go to the doctor when something doesn't feel right. Whether you laugh. Whether you rest. Whether you allow yourself to enjoy the life you're working so hard to take care of.

So this September, forget perfection.

Choose a few things that actually support you.

Here are ten places to start.

1. Schedule the Appointment You've Been Putting Off

You know the one.

The physical. The mammogram. The dentist. The eye exam. The skin check. The specialist. The conversation about something that hasn't felt quite right.

Preventive care is one of the most important ways we can take care of ourselves, yet it's remarkably easy to put ourselves at the bottom of the list.

Move yourself up.

Make the call.

2. Get Outside Every Day

You don't need an elaborate outdoor adventure.

Walk around the block. Drink your coffee outside. Sit on the porch. Take the dog out without simultaneously answering emails. Notice the sky.

Fresh air, movement, sunlight, and simply stepping away from screens can change the way a day feels.

And sometimes what we need isn't another productivity hack.

We need to go outside.

3. Move in a Way You Actually Enjoy

If you hate running, perhaps becoming a runner isn't your personal path to wellness.

Walk. Dance. Swim. Stretch. Garden. Hike. Lift weights. Take a class. Ride your bike. Play pickleball. Coach. Do yoga.

Your body was made to move, but movement doesn't have to be punishment.

Find something you enjoy enough to keep doing.

4. Pay Attention to What Gives You Energy

We spend a lot of time thinking about what drains us. Pay attention to the opposite, too.

Who makes you laugh?

What activities leave you feeling better afterward?

Where do you feel most like yourself?

What conversations energize you?

What makes you lose track of time in a good way?

Health isn't only about eliminating what's bad for us. It's also about making room for what brings us alive.

5. Protect Your Sleep

We can't keep treating sleep like the thing we'll get to after we've finished everything else. Because everything else is never finished.

There will always be another email to answer, another show to watch, another load of laundry, another thing to worry about, and another five minutes of scrolling that somehow turns into forty-five.

Meanwhile, sleep is doing important work. It supports our physical health, mood, memory, concentration, immune function, and ability to manage the demands of everyday life.

So instead of asking, "How much can I get done before I go to bed?" try asking, "What would help me wake up feeling better tomorrow?"

Maybe it's putting your phone down earlier. Going to bed at a more consistent time. Making your bedroom darker, quieter, and more comfortable. Cutting back on late-night work. Paying attention to caffeine or alcohol if they interfere with your sleep. Or creating a simple routine that tells your body and mind the day is winding down.

And please don't turn sleep into another thing you have to do perfectly.

One rough night doesn't mean you've failed at wellness. Life happens. Children wake us up. Pets wake us up. Partners snore. Hormones change. Stress follows us into bed. Sometimes our brains decide 2:00 a.m. is the perfect time to remember something embarrassing we said in 1997.

But if you're regularly having trouble sleeping, waking frequently, snoring or gasping during sleep, or feeling exhausted even when you're giving yourself enough time to sleep, don't simply accept it as normal. Talk with a healthcare professional. There may be something worth addressing.

Sleep isn't laziness.

It isn't wasted time.

And it isn't what you do when you've finally finished being productive.

Sleep is part of how you take care of the person who has to get up tomorrow and live your life.

6. Eat to Take Care of Yourself

Food doesn't need to become another source of guilt.

Think nourishment rather than punishment.

Add foods that help you feel energized and satisfied. Eat regularly enough that you're not running on fumes. Slow down when you can. Notice how different foods make you feel.

And please enjoy your food.

A healthy life has room for nutrition and pleasure.

7. Check Your Mental Diet

We think carefully about what we put into our bodies, but how often do we think about what we're putting into our minds?

From the moment we wake up, information starts coming at us.

News. Social media. Emails. Texts. Headlines. Videos. Podcasts. Notifications. Other people's opinions. Other people's problems. Other people's highlight reels. Arguments between complete strangers we somehow find ourselves reading at 11:30 at night.

Your mind is taking all of it in.

So pay attention to how what you're consuming makes you feel.

If twenty minutes of scrolling consistently leaves you anxious, angry, inadequate, jealous, frightened, or overwhelmed, that's information.

If following someone's life makes you feel worse about your own, that's information.

If checking the news repeatedly isn't making you better informed but is making you more afraid, that's information, too.

This doesn't mean ignoring what's happening in the world or surrounding yourself only with things you agree with. Being informed matters. Listening to different perspectives matters.

But you get to decide how much access everything has to you.

Try creating a little space between yourself and the constant stream. Don't reach for your phone the second you wake up. Turn off notifications you don't need. Unfollow accounts that consistently make you feel terrible. Step away from online arguments you're never going to solve. Put your phone somewhere else while you're eating dinner or talking with someone you love.

And then intentionally add things that make your mind healthier.

Read something that teaches you.

Listen to music you love.

Have a conversation that makes you think.

Laugh.

Learn something new.

Spend time in silence.

Look at something beautiful.

Your attention is valuable. Your time is valuable. Your peace is valuable.

Not everything deserves access to you simply because it's available to you.

Choose what you let in.

8. Spend Time With People Who Are Good for You

Connection is part of health.

Call the friend who makes you laugh until your stomach hurts. Have dinner with someone you love. Check on the person you've been thinking about. Join the group. Accept the invitation.

And pay attention to how you feel around people.

Healthy relationships don't require us to perform constantly, shrink ourselves, or recover from every interaction.

Spend more time where you can breathe.

9. Stop Treating Rest Like Something You Have to Earn

Somewhere along the way, being busy became something to brag about.

We answer "How are you?" with "Busy." We wear exhaustion like proof that we're working hard enough, helping enough, accomplishing enough, or being everything to everyone.

But being exhausted isn't a measure of your worth.

You are allowed to sit down before everything is done. In fact, everything may never be done.

There will always be another email to answer, another load of laundry, another errand, another deadline, another room that needs cleaning, and another person who needs something from you.

If you wait until the list is finished to rest, you may never rest.

Rest isn't something you earn after you've exhausted yourself. It's part of taking care of yourself so you can continue to show up for your life with energy, patience, clarity, and presence.

And rest doesn't always mean sleep.

Rest might be reading a book without checking your phone. Sitting outside with a cup of coffee. Taking a slow walk with nowhere you need to be. Listening to music. Saying no to an invitation because you need a quiet night. Closing your eyes for twenty minutes. Sitting on the porch and doing absolutely nothing productive.

Try something radical:

Rest before you're exhausted.

Don't wait until your body forces you to stop.

You don't have to justify it.

You don't have to apologize for it.

And you certainly don't have to turn resting into one more thing you're trying to do perfectly.

Sometimes taking good care of yourself looks remarkably like doing nothing at all.

Sit down. The laundry will still be there.

10. Listen to How You Talk to Yourself

You are listening to you.

Think about that for a moment.

All day long, you hear the words you say about yourself, whether you speak them out loud or quietly in your own mind.

"I'm terrible at this."

"I look awful."

"I'm so stupid."

"I can't do anything right."

"I'm too old."

"I'll never be able to do that."

"I'm such a mess."

Would you repeatedly say those things to someone you love?

Probably not.

So why are you saying them to yourself?

The way we talk to ourselves matters. Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2014 found that even changing the way we address ourselves during stressful situations can affect how we think, feel, and respond. Researchers found that using your own name or speaking to yourself as "you" rather than "I" can create a little psychological distance, almost as if you're giving advice to someone you care about.

Try it.

Instead of, "I can't handle this," say, "Elizabeth, you can handle this. Take it one thing at a time."

Instead of, "I'm such an idiot for making that mistake," try, "You made a mistake. What can you learn from it?"

Instead of, "I look terrible today," try, "You're tired today. Take care of yourself."

Instead of, "I'm never going to get this right," try, "You don't have to get it right all at once. Keep going."

And when you catch yourself saying something cruel about yourself, stop and ask:

Would I say this to someone I love?

If the answer is no, choose different words.

This isn't about pretending everything is wonderful or showering yourself with compliments you don't believe. It's about speaking to yourself with the same honesty, encouragement, patience, and compassion you would offer another human being.

Your voice is one of the voices you will hear most throughout your life.

Make sure it's a kind one.

Your Healthiest Best You Starts With You

You don't need to do all ten things this September. In fact, please don't turn this article into another checklist you use to decide you're somehow behind.

Pick one. Maybe two.

Make the appointment you've been postponing. Take the walk. Go to bed earlier. Call the friend who makes you laugh. Put the phone down. Eat something that nourishes you. Rest before you're exhausted. Pay attention to the way you speak to yourself.

And then notice how you feel.

Being your Healthiest Best You isn't about doing everything right. It's about paying attention. It's noticing what gives you energy and what takes it away. It's listening when your body asks for something. It's protecting your peace, caring for your relationships, getting the help you need, and treating yourself like someone whose health and happiness actually matter.

Because they do.

Your health isn't something to take care of someday when life becomes less busy. Someday is remarkably good at staying someday.

This is your life.

And we are not entitled to time.

So while you're here, take good care of the person living it.

Move your body because you're grateful it can move. Rest because you need rest. Eat to nourish yourself. Laugh often. Spend time with people who make life better. Get outside. Protect what you allow into your mind. Ask for help when you need it. And speak to yourself with kindness.

Not perfectly.

Not fearfully.

Lovingly.

Your healthiest life isn't waiting for you somewhere in the future.

You're living it right now.

Pause. Breathe. Choose.

And choose to take good care of you.