Spending a lot of time on your own these days? Maximize your quality time alone with yourself by trying out these five creative ideas. You’ll have so much fun!
When it comes to spending time alone, there tend to be two main camps of people.
There are those who see this as a punishment and would do almost anything to get out of it. Then there are those who look forward to it as a chance to recharge their emotional batteries.
If you’re facing some time alone on the near horizon, it can seem daunting. Instead of being on the fence about the idea, though, you can prepare for it!
Switching your perspective from, “Oh my goodness, I’m going to be alone. What will I do with all that time?” to, “Oh my goodness, I’m going to be alone! What do I get to do with all that time?” is vital.
Use these five activities to turn your scheduled quality time alone into an opportunity you can look forward to.
1. Eliminate Electronics
The first way to truly ground yourself into the present moment is to get rid of distractions. Yes, that means you need to put your cell phone away altogether.
It’s possible to live for short periods without the device that has become an extra appendage to many of us. Not too long ago, the entire world lived without constant, immediate communication — and they survived!
Being in the moment as you do something you enjoy or are feeling peaceful has a soothing effect. But when you are expecting your phone to notify you of a call or text, subconsciously, your guard is still up. Once you get past that anxiety of missing an important message, the knowledge of not being in demand is actually relieving.
Many people equate their worth with how many people are texting them or interacting with their social media posts. This can be dangerous to your mental health.
Even Facebook understands the detrimental effect of “likes” determining your self-worth. They have publicly considered doing away with them.
When you’re still looking for validation through social media likes, it’s hard to disconnect enough to learn how to accept yourself. Put your phone on silent, turn it off, or leave it in another room.
2. Think About Your Health
You may not be a fan of exercising, but using this alone time to make strides into healthier living can be enjoyable.
Health is a broad topic to explore. When working on improving yours, you can choose to start with either the mental or physical aspect.
Both of these interrelate to each other. Starting with one, you’ll eventually lead into the other, so you can’t go wrong when you start taking those steps!
To begin your journey into healthier living during your alone time, consider your hobbies. Which of these can you do alone?
For instance, do you love to cook?
Find some healthy recipes you can try out. If you must bake, play around with switching out vegetable oil and applesauce or other healthy options. This is your time to experiment!
Maybe you enjoy nature, but your job keeps you inside all day. When you have downtime, find a trail nearby to explore. You can take as long or as little time as you need to on the path, getting your Vitamin D and fresh air at the same time!
Anything that makes you feel content is good for your health, even if it’s something as small as listening to music or creating artwork. Find something that you love doing but rarely have the chance to do, and then do it!
3. Do As You Please
We spend so much of our days compromising with those around us to keep everyone happy. Eventually, this becomes the norm rather than the exception. We become used to putting our own desires on the back burner to avoid confrontation and make others feel valued.
But this can be exhausting, and you need to feel valued, too. That feeling of worthiness starts within you, and you can build on it when you’re alone.
When you have the opportunity to be by yourself, think about what you want to do. What desires have you pushed to the side because it didn’t interest anyone else?
Are you an art lover and no one wants to go to museums with you? Go!
Do you want to try a restaurant everyone else in your family is complaining about? Head there and enjoy it!
For many of us, the idea of going someplace alone is intimidating.
What will people think? What if they look at you in pity? These are common roadblocks to doing our own thing.
Once you head out by yourself a few times, you realize that you’re not the only one out there who lives life on their own occasionally. It will quickly become more natural.
Whatever you do, make it something you’re passionate about or you know you’ll enjoy. And don’t compromise.
4. Take Time to Learn Yourself
As we enter the real world, we begin to lose our own authenticity. We start to see who we need to be to fit in with our preferred crowd.
When we were young, we had childhood dreams and hobbies we loved. With adult responsibilities came less time to focus on these activities and goals. Some we grew out of; others we pushed aside for work and family.
This alone time is what you need to remember who you are.
What did you enjoy that others told you wasn’t acceptable? Or what hobbies did you once have that you lost time for?
As you relearn yourself, you’ll remember things you forgot you had a passion for. It might surprise you to realize there are new hobbies you picked up along the way that make you happy!
5. Practice Self-Improvement
Oscar Wilde is famous for his quote about never being overdressed or overeducated.
This dramatic line has a lot of truth in it — furthering your education is something you’ll never regret. And no one can take your knowledge away from you.
With so many free self-improvement programs, videos, books, and podcasts, there’s no reason not to take some quality time to better yourself.
Self-improvement encompasses a vast category of topics.
It can include working toward mastery on subjects like:
- Academic knowledge
- A specific skill you want to learn
- Home improvement ideas
- Mindfulness
- Improving on a hobby you already have
- Exercising
If you’re learning, you’re improving, and there’s never a wrong time to better yourself.
Conclusion
Sometimes all it takes to enjoy being alone and turn it into quality time is a shift in perspective. But when you’re not sure how to fill those empty minutes, it can be intimidating.
Try these five activities to start you on your journey to remembering how to spend time with yourself. Soon you’ll not only find ways to pass the time, but you’ll look forward to being alone!
[Author Bio]
Janey Ha, Business Manager at Mariposa on 3rd, has over eight years of experience in property management with a strong background in hospitality and is a local to the Koreatown/DTLA market. Mariposa on 3rd is a stylishly designed boutique apartment community at the threshold of LA’s budding metropolis, located within the hip neighborhood of Koreatown while just moments from DTLA.
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