Ep. #408: Why September is the New January

Welcome to the Not Your Average Runner podcast. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running coach, and your running BFF here to help you start running. Feel confident and love the journey no matter your size. Now, if you’ve ever felt like you just weren’t meant to be a runner, think again. I believe that running is for all bodies, even yours.

This podcast is your warmup buddy, giving you tips, motivation, and the support you need to lace up and get moving. I’ve helped thousands of women become runners, and now I wanna help you. Let’s go.

Most people think of January as the time for Fresh starts, new Year, new you, right? But let’s be honest, January is kind of a terrible month for that. It’s cold, it’s dark. We’re coming off the holidays, and the pressure to reinvent ourselves overnight is sky high. September, September has a totally different vibe.

The air feels crisper. Routines are shifting. Kids are going back to school. And even if you don’t have kids, you can feel that back to school energy, right? It is like nature itself is giving us a reset button, and that is why I think September is the real January. Hello and welcome back to the Not Your Average Runner show.

And you might have noticed I haven’t been talking a lot about running lately, and that’s on purpose because so many of the women I coach, and so many of you listening have been telling me that running feels just out of reach right now, that you are just trying to figure out how to make any kind of movement fit into your daily life.

So I’ve been shifting the focus a little bit to help you figure out how to do that, right? I’ve been spending time addressing those struggles, the mindset, the barriers, and the simple steps that make moving your body feel doable again. So that’s what we’re gonna do today. We’re gonna talk about why September is the new January.

So here’s the thing about January resolutions. They’re usually all or nothing. People join a gym and they buy a fancy planner and they overhaul their diet and they try to change everything at once. And then by February, most of the resolutions are history. And then we feel like failures. The problem is not you.

It’s the timing. Okay? It’s trying to launch a new version of yourself. When the days are short and the weather is miserable, is like trying to run a marathon uphill in the snow. No wonder it doesn’t stick. Now think about September. The weather is cooler, but not freezing. Routines are more structured.

There’s this collective sense of a new chapter starting. We’re leveling up a grade, so to speak, and even if it’s been decades since you were in school, you probably still feel it. I know I do every single year. It’s that urge to buy fresh, uh, office supplies and sharpened pencils and maybe get a new pair of sneakers.

And that is why September changes are more effective. They’re not about reinventing yourself from scratch, they’re about refreshing yourself, restarting gently, and honestly, that works better. So what I love about a September reset is that it does not demand perfection. You don’t need a big dramatic goal.

You can start small and small. My friend is what actually works. And you’ve heard me talk a million times about the idea of the minimum baseline, or as I have been calling it lately, the least. And what that means is instead of saying, I’m gonna run five days a week for 45 minutes, you choose a goal like I’m gonna put on my sneakers and walk for five minutes three times a week.

Right? It almost sounds too easy, and it is, but here’s the secret. When you make it too easy, you can’t fail. You’re actually gonna do it. And when you do it, you build consistency. And when you build consistency, you build identity. You start to see yourself as a person who moves, and that identity is what carries you forward way longer than any New Year’s resolution ever will.

So what could a September reset look like for you? Well, here’s some ideas. Take a 10 minute walk after dinner a couple times a week, right? Just say, that’s what I’m gonna do after dinner a couple times a week. I’m gonna go take a 10 minute walk. I might stretch while my coffee brooms in the morning. I might set aside five minutes a day for like a dance party to my favorite song.

The point isn’t to overdo it, and it’s definitely not to copy what everybody else is doing. It is to find a reset and a way of moving that fits your life right now. And I do wanna pause here ’cause I can feel some of you thinking, but I should be doing more. But Jill, if it’s not 30 minutes, it doesn’t count.

And Okay. We have been conditioned, especially as women, to believe that movement only counts if it’s hard and sweaty and exhausting. And if it’s at least 30 minutes and if we can’t do the full workout, we shouldn’t even bother. But here is the truth. Every single bit counts. Your body doesn’t have a timer that says, oh, that was only 22 minutes.

That doesn’t count. Just completely ignores the fact that you went and moved your body. Five minutes counts. Stretching during your coffee break counts, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. It all counts. It all adds up. It’s all important. Movement doesn’t have to be a punishment or a performance. It can be a gift that you give yourself.

And when you give yourself permission to start small, you create. Base for it to grow naturally, and I have seen this over and over with my clients. Once they drop that all or nothing mentality, they suddenly start moving more because it feels good. ’cause they’re like, actually this is kind of fun. So I’m gonna give you an example.

Uh, one of the women in, uh, my Run Your Best Life community, spent most of the summer beating herself up for not sticking to her running plan. So back in June, she had this big plan, what she was gonna do, and then she just didn’t do it. She just didn’t do any of it. And, you know, she missed a couple runs and then she felt guilty and then just totally derailed her.

So a couple weeks ago we chatted and I was like, what’s the least you can do? She said, well, I could do a five minute walk after I drop my kids off at school. I’m pretty sure I can do that pretty regularly. And so we said, all right. That’s it. That’s, that’s the thing. And that tiny choice shifted everything because within a couple weeks.

She’s like, I have walked for five minutes after dropping my kids off at least three times a week for the past two, three weeks. Some days I’ve walked for 10 minutes. A couple days. I even walked for 20 minutes and she said for the first time in years, I feel like movement is actually part of my life.

Again, it’s something that I can do and not get stressed out over. So that’s really what a, a September reset can do, or a back to school reset, whatever you wanna call it. It’s not about doing everything perfectly, it’s about letting yourself begin again in a way that fits your life. All right? And by the way, if you’re listening to this podcast in November, you can start in November.

There’s, there’s magic in September, but I don’t want you to wait for next September to do it. Start where you’re at. So if January didn’t work for you, uh, if you’re just tired of starting and stopping over and over again, let this be the moment you try something different. Softer. Start a gentler reset.

One small step you can actually keep. Of course, if you would love a little help with that, please come join me in the midlife movement makeover. Alright. It is a 30 day reset designed to get you moving again, without pressure, without perfection, and definitely without guilt. Just very simple steps, encouragement, and fun.

Okay. There’s no spandex required unless you want to. I actually love spandex. Um, there’s no resolutions required. It’s just you giving yourself permission to press play on a fresh chapter. You can check it all out at not your average runner.com/midlife. That’s not your average runner.com/midlife, or you can go to the link in the show notes and let’s do this.

All right? Okay, my friend, you have a great week. I’ll talk to you next Thursday, and in the meantime, here’s a big old MWAH.

Real quick before you go, I’ve got a fun challenge for you. Take my exerciser personality quiz to find out exactly what kind of exerciser you are and how to make running feel easier and more enjoyable.

Just head over to not your average runner.com/quiz to take it and get your results. That’s not your average runner.com/quiz.