The Most Important Self-Date Habits [Date Yourself Series #2]

Habits to make life easy on yourself….

Self-dates have been a game changer for me! I have been able to get to know myself better, and truly feel content in my own company. There are so many self-date activities that I enjoy, and they’re something I look forward too.

However, it wasn’t always like that. When I first started doing self-dates, they were terrifying for me. I was always scared that people around me were judging me for being by myself. It felt weird. I felt uncomfortable being seen by myself.

I have since then built regular habits that helped me get used to doing self-dates. And this is what we’re going through in this blog post today. You are going to learn of the 7 habits to effective self-dates (yes I may have used Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as inspiration for what I just said).

This blog post is definitely for anyone who are either doing self-dates regularly, or are just starting out. There are so many benefits to having self-dates, so it’s important to make the most of it.

And this blog post is part of the Date Yourself Series on this blog! The other blog post so far in this series is How to Plan the Perfect Self-Date which I definitely recommend you check out after reading this blog post!

Now let’s dive in!

1 – Regularly Note What YOU Enjoy Doing

It’s important to get into the habit of knowing what you already enjoy doing.

Think about this. When you plan catch-up’s with friends, you usually would have a few ideas on what you’ll enjoy doing together (or if there’s something new you want to try out!).

Same exact thing with self-dates.

List down activities that you personally enjoy already. At the same time, try out new activities and also note down if you end up enjoying those activities too.

Because it’s also just as important to have a variety of options on what activities to do when you do your self-dates. Self-dates can be a bit scary especially if you’re just starting out. The easiest way to not feel too nervous is to do activities you enjoy.

2 – Regularly Trying Out New Activities (with or without friends)

Whether we like it or not, when we do the same things over and over again, we do tend to get sick of it. That’s why we need to mix things up once in a while!

And a way to do this is to regularly try out new activities. Whether that’d be every month or every couple of months, it’s up to you. The more you try out, the more you discover about what you like and dislike.

Speaking of which, trying out new activities is also learning about yourself at the same time! Not only do you learn about what you enjoy doing on your own, you also get a good idea on what makes you comfortable and uncomfortable.

There are plenty of places you can find new ideas of self-date activities including:

• Pinterest
• YouTube
• Google
• Instagram & TikTok

3 – Practice Makes Perfect – the more self-dates you do, the more you get used to it

Practice makes perfect, especially if you’re starting to do self-dates for the first time!

I remember when I did my first self-date at a restaurant, it was such a scary experience. I was worried that people were judging me and that I looked like a loser.

But the more self-dates I have, the more comfortable I got with it. The more comfortable I got with it, the more I truly enjoyed my own company. And that’s why it’s important to keep going on self-dates.

The more self-dates you do, the more you get used to it. You’ll find that you feel content in your company, and that you are learning more about yourself as time goes on.

So if you’re starting out, even though it may feel scary at first, pinky promise, you’ll get used to it.

4 – Safety First!

Even though this blog post has talked about the benefits of self-dates, there’s still one important thing to consider, your safety.

There may be activities that you do not feel safe and comfortable doing on your own, and that’s completely okay!

For example, you may feel comfortable going to a restaurant on your own. But when doing a hike, you may not.

Follow your intuition is extremely important here! Pick activities that you truly feel comfortable doing on your own. If there’s a new activity idea, and your intuition is saying to not do it, follow it.

5 – Schedule Your Self-Dates

When you plan a catch up with a friend, you agree on a day & time, and you schedule it in.

It’s the exact same with your self-date. You’re going to schedule a time in a day that you’re going to do your self-date.

While there are always going to be legitimate reasons for cancelling on your self-date, it’s important to follow through as much as possible. The more you cancel on yourself, the more your brain picks up that you’re not making yourself a priority.

Treat your self-date like an important appointment or interview.

6 – Dress up on your self-dates

When you’re hanging out with a friend (or especially when you’re going on a date!), you want to look good right?

That’s not going to change when going on a self-date. You still want to dress up for yourself.

Because when you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you enjoy your self-date more. Especially if you’re doing self-dates for the first time, you want to at least look good to feel good.

Just remember that you don’t have to dress super formal or fancy. You just need to dress in a way that makes you feel good.

7 – Document the self-date!

When you are catching up with friends, usually you would document the memories by taking photos and/or videos.

Same with your self-dates! Whatever you are doing, take some pictures. And don’t forget photos with you in them! You can take selfies, take self-timer photos, or ask someone to take the photo for you.

We take photos for the memories so we can look back at them one day. And it’d be great if we get to look back at the great self-dates that we’ve had.

Take a SMALL STEP!

Here’s how you can start implementing some of the habits we mentioned in this post! (and then, you can pick ONE habit to focus on):

1. Regularly Noting Down What You Enjoy Doing – make a list of activities that you already enjoy doing.
2. Regularly trying out new activities – make a list of activities that you’ve always wanted to try out.
3. Practice makes perfect – plan out your next 3 self-dates!
4. Safety first – this should be an ongoing general thing anyway. When doing your self-dates, just take the step to let someone know where you’re going and when to expect when you’ll be home.
5. Scheduling in your self-dates – schedule in a self-date for this week.
6. Dressing up on your self-dates – on your next self-date, dress to impress… yourself! 😉
7. Document your memories – on your next self-date, don’t forget to take your photos!

Get to Know Yourself Better

What’s the best way to get to know someone? You spend more time with them.

So what’s the best way to get to know yourself? You spend time with yourself!

That’s why we discussed why it’s important to regularly note what you enjoy doing, as well as trying out new activities. You get to know yourself better!

The same with scheduling regular self-dates, that you document & dress up for. You spend more time with yourself. (just remember that on top of all these benefits of self-dates, you remember your safety too!).

If you need to take small steps to ease into doing regular self-dates, you can! Taking small steps is still progress. If you want to read how you ease into taking small steps, read my free book, Small Steps to Progression. You can also find it in the Free Resource Library where you can find more resources to help you with your personal growth (especially your self-care!).

So, stay kind to yourself, take small steps if you need to, and enjoy the process of getting to know yourself better!

-Lauren 😊

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Similar articles you might like:

20 Tips to Build a Better Relationship with Yourself

How to Put Yourself First and Become the Main Character of Your Life!

Ultimate Self-Care Guide

Quick Guide of Self-Care Activities & Resources!

other posts in the Date Yourself Series:

How to Plan a Self-Date

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