The Season of Unsubscribing

We hear a lot about autumn being a season of shedding, releasing and letting go of what we no longer need. But this year I wonder if there’s another way of approaching it.

We’re surrounded by vast amounts of advice and opinions about how to make ourselves feel better, healthier, happier and more productive.

There’s always something to optimise, improve, track, hack or add to our all ready full lives. There is a constant incoming of newsletters, notifications, supplements, morning routines, evening routines, hormone hacks, sleep hacks, skin hacks, productivity systems, five-step this, ten-step that.

It’s a lot!!! Even attempting to feel better can start to feel like another thing we need to be good at.

So rather than asking: What do I need to let go of?

Perhaps this autumn we could ask: What have I been allowing into my life that I don't actually need?

I think from this approach, it can lead to a very different kind of decluttering. This isn't about throwing everything out, deleting every app and suddenly becoming a minimalist! It's about becoming a little more discerning about what we allow into our attention and chose to adopt, before potentially pausing to ask:

Is this actually useful?

Does it feel nourishing, or does it leave me feeling like I should be doing more?

Do I actually believe this?

Does it make life feel lighter?

Am I doing this because I genuinely want to, or because I've been persuaded that I should?

And perhaps the most interesting question:

What happens if I don't?

So this season, you could try your own autumn unsubscribe audit.

Unsubscribe from something digital.
A newsletter you never read. A notification you don't need. Something that regularly lands in your inbox simply because you forgot to stop it.

Unfollow something.
Not because it's bad or wrong, but because you don't need to see it every day.

Stop researching something.
Give yourself permission not to find the perfect answer. Sometimes more information doesn't actually make a decision easier.

Stop measuring something.
Your sleep score, your steps, your productivity, your screen time. Whatever has quietly turned into another thing you're keeping score of.

Then importantly, leave the space empty and don't immediately replace it with something else. See what happens.

After a week, do you even notice it's gone? Do you miss it? Do you feel relieved? Do you suddenly have a little more time or mental space?

If you genuinely miss it, that's useful information too. You can always bring it back.

This isn't about becoming anti-wellness or deciding that everything we're told is unnecessary. It's about becoming better at deciding and sensing for ourselves what is actually useful. Because sometimes we don't need another routine, another recommendation or another thing to work on.

Sometimes we just need a little less coming at us, and perhaps that's another kind of letting go. Not just letting go of what we've been carrying, but becoming more intentional about what we pick up in the first place.