Nowadays, the first thing I see through my window when I wake up is bright scarlet leaves adorning the tree that ripples in the breeze by Alumnae Hall. I refuse to leave my dorm without throwing on a baggy pullover or cable-knit sweater. If you encounter me anytime between the hours of 2 and 5 p.m., it’s likely that I’ll have a hot coffee from Andrews or V-Dub clasped in my hands, the liquid inside still too scorching for anything beyond sipping.

Thus is the magic of fall.

At this point, you might already want to stop reading. I’m sure this is about the thousandth piece of the season rhapsodizing over autumnal beauty. And I bet you’re tired of hearing people harp on and on about the same three features of the ‘ber months. Maybe it feels overhyped. Maybe it feels basic.

But here’s why I implore you not to give up on shamelessly and vocally loving the fall.

I firmly believe this season brings so much to appreciate. After long summers of soaring temperatures and skies so bright they make your eyes water, what’s not to love about the first tinge of autumnal chill in the air? When you step outside bundled up in a sweater, is there really anything stopping you from stepping on every leaf you encounter to try and find that perfect crunch? 

Aside from the occasional downpour, the weather outside is generally and genuinely lovely. The majority of my camera roll has become simple landscape photos, my repeated attempts to capture these fleeting moments of beauty. To say it very plainly, there’s a lot to love about fall.

It’s easy to forget that in a month or so, these are the times we’ll miss. It’s easy to complain about things like the sometimes-biting chill in the air or the overcast clouds that darken the sky in the middle of the day. I’ve caught myself grousing about both things and more on occasion. Not everything about the season is ideal.

I’ve never experienced a New England winter, but I’ve been told over and over that the weather will only get bleaker from here on out. My friends from the area and concerned adults back home describe snowstorms, icy paths, and below-freezing weather like war stories. Every day, the presence of the singular puffer jacket I own seems to hang heavier inside my wardrobe.

Just as we’re yearning for summer sun and skies right now, I know that these days will soon become the ones we reminisce on instead. And that realization—that in just a few short weeks, the world will grow colder than I’ve ever known it to be—continues to drive me to take a deep breath and look up at the reddening leaves every moment I step outside.

I know there will always be those who denounce this sort of fall aesthetic as “basic,” “stereotypical,” or even “uninspired.” But I believe that there’s nothing wrong in deriving pleasure from the simple things. Such is the most beautiful thing about humans: our ability to find joy in the sound of a dry leaf crunching under our boots, in the whisk of a squirrel’s tail up an oak trunk, in these brief moments that comprise this brief life.

So for these next couple months, you’ll catch me unabashedly wearing the same two knit sweaters every day, spending way too much money at the Underground, and taking every opportunity I can to stop walking, stare upwards, and say, “Look at how gorgeous that tree is!”

Because the trees really are gorgeous, and chai really is delicious, and there’s nothing quite like the feel of cool October wind slipping through your fingertips, like something alive in and of itself.