When a new year starts and we find ourselves without a relationship, it’s important to have healthy aspirations for the coming year that don’t always revolve around searching for love. Your dating life will move forward, but in the meantime, strive to do some things for yourself, too.
- Make a bold change to your look. It might seem cliche, but updating your look does wonders for your overall confidence. Whether it’s rocking a bold fuchsia highlight or switching up your wardrobe slightly, having a brand new look will give you an added edge to brave the new dating year with a little more ferocity.
- Resolve to love yourself just as you are. Sure, there might be ways you can improve yourself, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t love who you are right here and now. If you can learn to be thoughtful and kind to yourself first and foremost, this will translate for a more confident year ahead overall.
- Strengthen your existing relationships with friends and family. While you’re not in a relationship, make sure not to get so caught up in the search “The One” that you forget to spend time with the people here and now who care about you. Being single is the perfect time to really deepen and make memories in your friendships and family life.
- Take on a new educational or career pursuit. Because crushing a new pursuit is a satisfying feeling and you’ll thank yourself when you’re earning a bigger paycheck or reveling in your new knowledge, even if you’re without a relationship.
- Figuratively or literally climb a mountain. Aside from the fact that actual hiking is an extremely healthy and rewarding experience, it doesn’t have to be an actual mountain. We’ve all got that one goal (outside of finding our soulmates) that we’ve hesitated on pursuing because it seems too challenging. Well, what better time to tackle it than when we have plenty of time to ourselves to do so?
- Try to meet people outside the modern dating box. We all rely so heavily on online dating and Tinder to satisfy our urges and impulsive desire to find someone. It’s convenient, and we can do it comfortably in our onesies during our typical Netflix binges. This year, stop yourself. Get dressed up, go out and talk to strangers. Hell, maybe even send a random guy a drink across the bar. Make bold moves. Be different. Approach your dating life outside of the new and cliche ways we’ve grown accustomed to. Be brave.
- Plan an amazing trip. Whether it’s a weekend camping trip straight out in the bush or a backpacking trip to Europe, plan something amazing to give yourself something to look forward to. It’s easy to get caught up in non-relationship funks and not make plans for yourself in hopes that someone will walk in that you can plan your life with but that might not happen when you want it to, so in the meantime, plan a life for yourself.
- Worry less about what others think about your constant single status. Sometimes we worry that other people label us as “damaged goods” or flawed in the dating world. But stop it. Even if anyone does think that, resolve to give zero f*cks about it. It’s what you know about yourself that matters. So let’s stop letting the world look down on us for being single, because if we’re doing all of the above, single is not too shabby of a place to be.
