If you’ve been following and reading these blog posts, you’ll know that I’ve been trying to develop more trust with myself and my decisions. A part of that is practicing healthy habits and being intentional about the things I do. One of those things I wanted to focus on was creating more experiences for myself and getting out more.

I for one am a pretty introverted person and sometimes thinking of going out and doing something new can bring about some feelings of anxiety! It’s nothing new and it’s not a weird emotion, but it is important to work towards overcoming those things that can make us feel incapable. That’s where solo dating came in for me.

Now I know February can be a hard month for a lot of people. It’s love month, Valentine’s Day creeps up and some of us may experience feelings of loneliness. It’s important to understand these emotions and not feel shame for feeling them. I think too often people try to gaslight single people into ignoring their feelings and just acting like everything is okay. Let’s get real. It’s okay not to be okay, but there are things we can do to feel better and to show love to ourselves.

What is Solo Dating?

Solo dating isn’t an original concept, but with some of the pressures that people feel from social media or even people around them, it can feel like a bad thing to have to (or want to) do things by yourself. I’m not going to lie and act like I haven’t felt this. I had to reframe this thought and realize that having time to myself is actually a luxury. I can do whatever I want and I can focus on doing the things that make me feel good!

Solo dating is a great way to build trust in yourself and overcome issues you may face if you experience social anxiety.

Now when it comes to this there are important things to remember. You have to make sure you are doing things that you are comfortable with. You can challenge yourself and grow in new areas, but if you aren’t a night owl, don’t push yourself to stay out until 3:00 am. If you don’t enjoy clubs, you don’t have to go the club! You know what I’m getting at right?

Getting out of your comfort zone can be hard sometimes.

We all have comfort zones and while we shouldn’t stay in those comfort zones there are some things that we just really don’t want to do or just don’t feel comfortable doing. We shouldn’t feel the need to compromise our boundaries for the sake of trying something new. We should know ourselves enough to know when to say no.

Here is something else to remember. When you look good you feel good! We’ve all heard of faking it until you make it. Put on your best and present your best self. There have been moments where I’ve felt a little self conscious or anxious, but for me looking the part has always helped. Even if it seems like everyone is looking at you or judging you remember that’s not true. Trust me! No one is thinking about you as much as you are.

It’s so easy for us to criticize ourselves because we have more access to ourselves than anybody else in this world. We know every thought, every insecurity and every embarrassing moment. If we let those things hold us back, we’ll never really move onto better things. We have to let go of our critic because it doesn’t serve us!

Here is a great article I found called “10 Tips for Being More Social on Your Own Terms”. Getting social and branching out doesn’t have to be a struggle. We can take a chance on ourselves and do some pretty awesome things.