Make a Date with Yourself for Powerful Self-Care

While connecting with a romantic interest or significant other can provide nights of bliss, have you considered going on a date with yourself? A date with yourself might seem unusual, but self-dates are becoming more popular as people seek more powerful venues for self-care. 

What’s a Date with Yourself? 

Just like a date with a significant other, a date with yourself involves planning ahead to spend quality time with the invited party (in this case, you). This solo date can include any activity you’d enjoy attending with someone special: a picnic, a nice dinner out, bowling, window shopping, a cooking class, a movie, and more. Just make sure your date has two elements: specifically set-aside time, and an enjoyable activity or meal. 

How to Prepare for a Date with Yourself

Again, stick to your norms for dates with others. If you haven’t had a date with another person in quite some time, you actually have the opportunity to start these ideas from scratch. Consider, in that case, what you’d like to do in preparation for a date with someone else, then take those principles and apply them to your self-date.

For example, plan your date ahead of time. That means adding the event into your calendaring system of choice and keeping the time sacred, not allowing other activities to take its place. This simple act of scheduling can create both intentionality and anticipation. 

Next, plan your activities and make arrangements accordingly.  If your date involves dinner and a movie, make reservations at a restaurant (maybe your favorite stand-by or a new haunt entirely), purchase movie tickets for the show of choice, and determine travel logistics.

Finally, spend some time getting ready. Wear something nicer than you normally would for a night alone, and take time to look your best, whatever that means to you. 

Make sure you’re on time. Just as you don’t like to start a date with someone else on the wrong foot, frustrated or flustered because you’re late, you want to treat your self-date as a special event.

Why Date Yourself?

Spending intentional time alone helps with self-reflection and getting to know yourself better, similarly to the results of a date with another person. Moreover, spending the time to prepare both mentally and physically causes you to be present. A date with yourself also disrupts your schedule and gets you out of the house, which can help interrupt thought patterns and give you a new take on something that might be bothering you. Finally, dating yourself is a wonderful form of self-care, where you make choices considering only your own happiness and wellbeing ("How to Increase Your Self-Esteem with Self-Care").