The fall season brings plenty to appreciate, but for some, it can be a tough transition from beautiful golden leaves and colorful neighborhoods to a chill in the air. As the days grow shorter and routines shift, the season can introduce a gray layer of fatigue, lower mood, and stress.
A simple, cheery practice that has gained some attention on social media is the color walk. Choose a color, go for a walk, and play real-life “I spy” with the world around you. Whether it’s a bright orange pumpkin on a porch or a retro blue car driving by, you’ll start to notice small details you might not have before.
Quick Read
A color walk is a simple mindfulness activity and exercise: choose a certain color, take a walk in nature or an urban area, and notice that color in your surroundings. This practice combines gentle movement with focused observation, helping you stay present, manage seasonal stress, and appreciate small details.
You can adapt the walk to your energy level, accessibility needs, and the weather—even observing colors from a window or at an indoor location. While color walks can support well-being, persistent mood changes, anxiety, or difficulty with daily responsibilities may require professional mental health support.
Why Fall Transitions Can Feel Difficult
In Minnesota, fall can bring noticeable change. The days get shorter, temperatures drop, frost can coat the grass, and a new crispness enters the air. And for students and families, it means transitioning to the new school year, stricter schedules, and managing academic and personal responsibilities.
These changes in routines and weather can cause seasonal mood changes. Often referred to as autumn anxiety or winter blues, which are less severe signs, or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which involves more severe symptoms and is based on patterns of seasonal mood shifts.
For people who already experience anxiety or depression, for example, these changes can feel especially challenging. Mindfulness can help you navigate periods of change. It helps you connect with the world around you and yourself without judgment, bringing you into the present.
What Is a Color Walk?
A color walk is a mindfulness activity in which you choose a color and look for it in your surroundings as you walk. You might search for different shades of yellow on a fall afternoon, or look for colors in rainbow order in everyday objects like cars, buildings, and mailboxes.
Color walks originated in 1970s New York City, where writer William Burroughs helped popularize the practice as an artistic approach to sparking creativity by seeing their surroundings in new ways. The act of “walking on colors” has gained a new audience on TikTok and other social media platforms.
The goal of a color walk is to encourage you to slow down, absorb, and pay attention to the world around you. A mindful walk can help people who struggle with traditional meditation or sitting still, since they use visual observation as the main anchor alongside gentle movement.
How a Walking Meditation Can Help with Seasonal Change
Mindfulness involves paying attention to the present moment. While practicing it, you don’t have to stop thinking or avoid feeling a bit anxious. Instead, you simply notice what is happening around you and bring your thoughts back when they wander.
During the walk, your chosen color becomes the focus. Instead of focusing on the stressors of the week at work, you look for shades of green in your neighborhood or bright reds as you walk through your local downtown area.
This practice can help with several aspects of your mental health:
- Noticing your surroundings to reconnect with the actual environment you’re in
- Exploring things that feel familiar or noticing new things that might have changed
- Keeping in touch with yourself and the world around you to check in
- Connecting with those around you by going with loved ones or seeing others in your neighborhood
Research shows that a walk outside has mental health benefits. It can help with depression and anxiety, even reducing the stress hormone cortisol. During a season of change, a color walk can be a physical and mental break that also helps you notice the season’s beauty.
How to Take a Fall Color Walk and Practice Mindfulness
You can take a color walk almost anywhere, and there’s no strict time limit. The walk is meant for you and what you need at the moment. Below we suggest a few things to consider as you try your first mindful walk.
Before You Leave
A little preparation can help make a color walk feel more accomplishable and enjoyable, such as:
- Choose a safe, accessible place to be outside (or indoors), such as your neighborhood sidewalk, a park, or the local mall.
- Fall weather can vary, so check the weather and dress accordingly. You could even try some dopamine dressing!
- Choose one color that speaks to you, or even consider a few to rotate through if that feels best for the moment.
- Put away distractions like your phone, and consider headphones if outdoor sensory input can be overwhelming at times.
While You’re on the Walk
Go to your chosen location and take a few comfortable breaths. Begin your walk and slowly scan for objects in your chosen color.
Your color may not exactly match what you had in mind, but observe it anyway. What is the hue? What texture does it have? Maybe it looks different in the sun vs. under the clouds.
You can also absorb other sensory inputs if there’s a break in your color tour. Can you hear a crunch under your feet? Can you feel a cold breeze on your cheeks? What about the fresh smell in the air? Observe, and don’t let the day’s stress disrupt what you’re experiencing.
After You Get Back from the Walk
Take a moment to notice how you feel. You might feel a bit calmer, more energized, or more connected to your surroundings.
Sometimes a color walk can also bring new inspiration or thoughts. If so, take time to journal, write a few notes, or do a creative activity that can help you enter a flow state. A change of scenery can certainly help you work through problems or even just get a fresh perspective.
Remember, you don’t have to finish the color walk with a completely different mindset or have solutions for every challenge. The practice is about making time for yourself and noticing what’s around you in the present moment.
Make Your Color Walk Your Own
The best part of a color walk is that you can adjust it to what you need each day. Don’t make it an aesthetic walk with the primary goal of posting on Instagram. Instead, listen to what your mind and body need—something that helps rather than adds another task to your to-do list.
A few questions to ask yourself:
- Are you feeling anxious? Try unplugging from your device and listening to the world around you. If that feels overwhelming, put on headphones and listen to calming music so you can still focus on what you’re seeing.
- Are you feeling tired or having a high pain day? Try a reasonable walk, like setting a timer for 10 minutes or taking a short walk to the park to sit on a bench to manage pain. This time outside can be a refreshing change of scenery, and it can still be plenty of time to notice the colors around you.
- Are you feeling a creative block or a mental block? Bring a notebook or an analog camera to document what sparks ideas or inspo.
- What feels like a reasonable time to budget into your day? Sometimes busy days require making time for your health. Budget time for yourself and stick to it. Setting aside time for your mental wellbeing prevents burnout and stress, and it’s always time well spent.
- How is the weather looking? The weather can have a huge impact on our willingness to participate in just about any activity. If the cold, ice, or rain feels like too much or unsafe, try sitting by a window like a color I spy, or go to an indoor spot like a mall, which can have a similar effect with more control over your environment.
Overall, the best color walk is one that is built around what you need. These questions aren’t exhaustive, but as long as you put your mind and body at the center, you’re doing the right thing.
Making Walks a Regular Practice to Absorb the Present Moment
Mindfulness often takes time and practice. Plus, a color walk doesn’t have to be exclusive to autumn. Make a reasonable goal for yourself to regularly go for a walk and see how it feels over the season or year.
It might look like witnessing the first bright green leaves unfurling in spring, then the bright pink flowers of summer, and the crisp yellow leaves of fall. These observations can help you feel connected to your community and train your brain to notice small moments of beauty and glimmers throughout the day.
As the seasons change, also try rotating colors, inviting loved ones to join, or even keeping a written or visual journal of your findings. That keeps the activity fresh while keeping the core practice.
When Support for Seasonal Mood Changes Is Needed
Mindfulness activities such as a color walk can help some people manage seasonal changes. But grounding exercises alone can’t replace professional mental health support when concerns affect daily life.
As we explored, daylight, daily schedules, and temperature can affect mood and energy. However, a few signs indicate that it’s best to reach out to a professional:
- Persistent sadness and low mood
- Increased anxiety about certain things or out of nowhere
- Changes in sleep or appetite (more or less than usual)
- Withdrawal from activities and people
- Difficulty managing daily responsibilities like school or work, personal health, or hygiene
Whether these feelings and behaviors have changed over time or are brought on by the change of the season, a professional can help you identify what’s going on. From there, they’ll build an individualized plan with goals to help you feel better.
Teen and Young Adult Support for Seasonal Depression at Newport Healthcare
Newport’s expert therapists, psychiatrists, and medical staff can help you get to the root of sadness in the fall and winter, address any physical issues that are weighing you down, and support you in learning new, healthy coping skills.
To find out more about our young adult programming or our programming for adolescents, get in touch with us today. Our Admissions team is available round the clock to speak with you about what you’re experiencing, provide resources, and help you get started with mental health services.
