Hello Gallivanters!

I’m sure you’ve heard the single empowerment statement, “Date yourself first” from someone in a seemingly happy and healthy relationship.

I definitely have, but as cheesy as it sounds, I do think it holds some truth.

For me, I get uncomfortable being alone. Sitting with loneliness with only the thoughts in my head to keep me company can feel daunting, but at the end of the day that is just unavoidable.

Recently, I’ve had to get used to being alone more. That’s okay. In fact, it’s probably a good thing.

Doing things alone isn’t easy, but missing out on experiences in life because there wasn’t anyone available to accompany you isn’t the way I want to look back on my life.

Even if you do have a ton of friends, sometimes people are busy or they just aren’t interested in doing what you what to do all the time, which is more than okay.

So, how do we go from hyper-dependent to solo-tripping East Asia? I haven’t got that figured out yet, but I’m working on it.

Here are some baby steps to that in the form of “solo dates” to try out all by your lonesome sometime.

#1 Movie Theater

This one is probably the hardest to convince yourself is socially acceptable, but once you give it a try you’ll find it hard to invite anyone to the movies with you again. For starters, the movie theater attendants quite literally do not notice or care that you’re by yourself. And think about it, you’ll never have to compromise and pay a million dollars to watch something you’d skip even if it was the only thing on Netflix, just to make someone else happy.

#2 Coffee Shop

You may think you already do this all the time, but I’m not counting on you mobile ordering, and leaving immediately after pickup, all while never removing your headphones. Bring a book, or your computer, or nothing at all and just sit with yourself. Let yourself be preserved (the horror), and enjoy a nice cup of coffee and maybe even a polite exchange to get to know the barista you see more than most of your friends.

#3 Sushi Bar

Going to dinner by yourself can be intimidating even to the most extreme extrovert. A sushi place sitting at the bar is taking a half-step in the right direction. It’s pretty fast and you won’t be taking up a whole 10-person hibachi table to yourself if that sounds too scary.

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Well folks, thanks for checking out the blog!

I hope that you enjoyed reading some of my solo date ideas. I’m going to try to start implementing one of these into my weekly/monthly routine to spend quality time with myself, and I hope you do too!

-Allison