Being a girl in your 20s while balancing everyday life events from classes to social life is hard. All that alone is enough to navigate let alone the added pressure to be in a relationship. At the end of the day, we are ultimately all still trying to discover ourselves and who we are. So, here are a few of my own personal tips and tricks for how to come to love your alone time and change your mindset to date yourself instead.Â
1. Journaling
This is the basis for your self-love journey. Take yourself out and treat yourself to a new journal. Journaling is a great way to sit down and self-reflect on whatever it is in life that you are dealing with. The important thing to remember is that there is no one way to “do” journaling. Get creative with it, do what you feel you need to do for YOU. Carving out some time in your busy schedule can go a long way when you are really taking time to dedicate to yourself and reflect internally on your feelings and who you want to me. Journaling is a great place to start manifesting the life you want and is a truly self-liberating activity that is as simple as writing words on a page.
2. Hobbies
What’s stopping you from starting the new hobby or taking yourself out on solo coffee date? The art of falling in love with your alone time is all about letting go of the fear of missing out and simply doing the things you want to do and being okay with doing them alone. This can be as simple as starting the book you’ve been wanting to read, going to a weekly workout class, trying a new hobby like pottery making or even just taking yourself out on a solo date. It’s time to heal your inner child and do something for you simply because you like it and it makes you happy.Â
3. Podcasts
No one has it all figured out. However, listening to the stories and experiences of other people is a great way to gain a new perspective of certain situation in your own life, but also just gaining advice from a “big sister” figure who’s maybe walked in that same path as you. No matter what is going on in my life I can always count on a good walk while listening to a new podcast episode to make me feel better. My favorite go-to self-care podcasts include: The Everygirl Podcast, Date Yourself Instead, The Psychology of your 20s, and the Moments Podcast.Â
4. Mindset
Lastly and certainly not least, I believe the power of falling in love with your alone time and choosing to date yourself instead lies within your mindset. I think the power lies in you choosing to stop actively looking for a relationship and taking the pressure off yourself to find “the one”. Ultimately at the end of the day the only relationship that matters is the one you have with yourself and when you change your mindset to focus on putting your energy into yourself it makes all the difference. Choosing to focus on dating yourself instead helps you understand on a deeper level who you are and what you truly want in life.Â