Fall. The leaves are changing and the temperature is dropping. It’s the most wonderful time of the year…kinda. Though everyone’s opinions vary, many people find fall to be their favorite season. Whether it’s the football games, pumpkin spice lattes, or the transition from Summer, there are so many amazing aspects. Perhaps the most important reason that Autumn is so popular is because it is considered to be a temporal landmark.
WTF is a Temporal Landmark???
A temporal landmark is a certain indication that gives us an idea as to where we are in time. Examples could include how the sun rising indicates a new day or how Monday indicates a new week. Fall in particular indicates the start of a new school year. According to the article, “Don’t Apologize For Your Obsession With Fall. It’s Science”, kids relate Fall to the idea of new classes, new clothes, new school supplies and so on. This is why people usually tend to like this season; so many new beginnings. As a result of this, many tend to get motivated by this fresh start.
Fresh-Start Effect
With the start of a new season or new school year, there is no better time to create new goals. The article, “Fresh Start Effect: How to Motivate Users with New Beginnings” pretty much describes the Fresh-Start Effect as the tendency for people to become encouraged to establish or fulfill new objectives due to the occurrence of a temporal landmark. This website includes how studies found that college students tended to go to the gym more at the beginning of a new week, month, semester and break. It is evident that we attain such a high level of motivation at the beginning of a new time period whether it be as short as a week or as long as a year. For me, at the beginning of every school year I would tell myself that I would wake up earlier for school that year…Though that only really lasted for about a week, I still find it very easy to draw connections to this effect.
What are we thinking?
While conducting this research, I couldn’t help but wonder as to what is going on in our minds that causes this entire effect to happen. According to an article posted on Scientific American, we tend to compare our current self or state with a better, future situation. For example, going along with my goal to wake up earlier for school, I would contrast the differences between myself now: waking up late, rushing to school, and my goal future self: being a morning person, not having to rush. This comparison is what ran through my mind when planning to start my new school year goal. Imagining the benefits that I did not currently have, motivated me to want to achieve this.
If you’re still wondering ‘what’s so great about Fall?’, just know it allows the chance to try many new things. So while you’re enjoying your fall days at Beaver Stadium, Starbucks or even playing in the leaves, remember that this is the perfect opportunity to set some goals for yourself. What will yours be?
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scientific-reason-we-love-fall_us_57f41713e4b04c71d6f0979f?section=us_healthy-living
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/fresh-start-effect/
coglode.com/gems/fresh-start-effect
scientificamerican.com/…/is-it-the-right-time-for-a-fresh-start
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This was a topic that I never would have thought of, but I like what you did with it. Although I like the topic, I don’t agree with you. Fall is my least favorite season because it starts getting cold, everything is dying, and school is starting back up. I personally do not get excited to start school at the beginning of the year. I did find your second from last paragraph very intriguing. I think it is cool how are brain compares our self with a better future version of us.
I absolutely adore fall, although I think the actual weather has more to do with it for me than the ability for new opportunities. The crisp, cool air just makes me feel good for some reason. It feels refreshing to me, not overbearing like the summer air or frigid like the winter. I feel like this is the reason why I at least run more during this season. I tried and failed to find any studies on this exact topic, so I’ll definitely have to look more into it – perhaps for a blog of my own.
Although you offer compelling information as to why some people love fall, I could not disagree with you more. I hate fall. It is just a sad reminder that the summer is behind us and now so far away. Spring is easily the best time of year, it is full of excitement for the summer months to come. All there is to look forward to in the fall is inches of snow and the cold winter ahead. No matter how much research is done, I refuse to believe that fall is the best time of year. Heres an article backing why fall is not fun: http://www.collegehumor.com/post/7033591/10-reasons-why-fall-is-actually-the-worst-season