Autumn Glimmers, Wedding To-Dos and Work in Progress

I’m on the way to okay again.

For a little while there, things were utterly overwhelming. We’ve had a lot of fun along the way and there’s lots to celebrate, but 2026 has been a really tough year for lots of the people around us. Life has felt heavy, in the way that I’m beginning to understand adult life often does.

Lately though, I feel more like myself. The early, dark mornings of autumn still get me in a grump most of the time, but occasionally I find I’m excited to get all wrapped up in my scarf, hat and coat and head out into the crisp morning air. When I think about some of the plans we have in the diary for the next month or so, I get a little giddy with excitement. I’m looking forward to Christmas in a way I might not have been if I was still feeling drained and burned out.

You’d think I’d have learned by now that all storms really do pass, but it’s incredibly hard to remember that when the storm clouds are above you and everything feels too much isn’t it?

2026 is swiftly coming to an end and now feels as good a time as any to reflect on those goals I’d set, back when I started writing Chapter Eight.

Wedding planning is coming along really well. It’s amazing how much more complicated things feel the closer we get to the date though. In the early days of planning, when the wedding was a little way off, it felt simple. Book a venue, get some catering sorted, book a photographer and a DJ. The to-do list has expanded massively since then and it just keeps going. From sourcing decorations, planning table layouts and thinking about logistics, the minor details are increasingly coming to front of mind. I have an ever expanding note on my phone which says things like ‘remember to ask Helen to add table photos to shot list’ and ‘find perfect shade of lipstick’.

Importantly, we’re managing to stay pretty true to ourselves so far and I’m hopeful our day will be full of personality in the way we wanted.

I’ve not got a full blown fitness routine going yet, but I have taken small steps towards improving my health and wellbeing. I’ve done a couple of yoga practices and fought through office days after strength training workouts that left my legs feeling like jelly. I’d like to find some way of ensuring healthy habits and consistency going forwards, but I’m not going to beat myself up for making slow progress so far. It’s still progress after all.

And I wanted to take my writing more seriously. I wrote and published four articles on Medium, all of which I’m really proud of. But ultimately I’ve realised I might like to spend more time writing creatively. I used to love writing short stories and first chapters, for what I planned would be hugely successful novels.

So, I’m reading more, as a first step. And I’m also drawing inspiration from my every day – making a note when I see people who inspire me or places which I think might appear in a story of mine some day.

It’s a work in progress. I’m a work in progress. Growing all of the time and, no matter how old I get, learning to trust that it’ll all be alright in the end.