How to Enjoy Your Own Company

(Please welcome guest blogger, Kate who is passionate about personal growth and creative living. Read my self-care challenge I wrote for Kate’s blog.)

For a long time, most of us think that being alone is… well, awful and kinda sad.

We humans are generally social creatures. We thrive by being in communities. That and the fact that being alone has its social stigma. Like why would you choose to be alone? Why would you choose to be isolated, when you can be in the presence of others? It simply does not make sense to many.

Of course, this mentality has slowly changed. One of the best self-care ideas shared by many personal growth experts and psychologists alike is giving yourself “me time.“ Which I’m totally up for. I support this 100 percent.

Still, to be alone and be comfortable with your own company is not something everyone is good at. And if you aren’t, worry not, here are 5 simple ways for you to be comfortable with and enjoy your own company.

Start small

This is especially for those who really rarely spend their free time by themselves, or never at all. Much like anything you aren’t used to, starting small in enjoying company can help you slooowly and gradually get used to it. You can go to the movie alone, take an hour and a half walk around your neighborhood, sitting on a park bench alone.

Find a creative hobby

Oftentimes, we like to look for distractions when we’re all alone. At least, this is true for me. And having a hobby is a great way to spend your free time and do just that. Now why a creative hobby, specifically? For one, creative activities don’t need much human interaction. It’s just you and your innate creativity trying to create something that didn’t exist before. Which sounds super fun, doesn’t that sound super fun? 🙂

And also, spending time doing creative hobbies is a great way for you to self-reflect and get to know yourself a bit more. Here are some creative hobbies you can start now:

• Painting
• Writing
• Photography
• Knitting
• Composing music and/or songwriting
• Coding

Go to a public place and people watch

If you’re an extrovert and you love being in the presence of people, a good way to start being comfortable spending your time alone is by hanging out in a public place.

Try to just sit back and observe how other people go about their lives. Does the guy in the deli across the street talk with his hands? How does the lady with the pitbull act around other dog owners? Does that adorable ten-year-old skip when he’s happy?

You could even go extra and start making a story about the people around you. And you don’t have to share it to anyone, it could just be a story made by you and for you.

Avoid consuming mindlessly

Mindless consumption is the usual stuff we do plenty of times in our day-to-day lives. Stuff like turning on and sitting in front of the television without really fully watching what’s on it, scrolling through your Facebook News Feed, and the like. They’re called mindless consumption for a reason: you don’t really get any lasting benefit from doing it for a long period of time.

So do something meaningful instead like reading a long-form feature story or a novel or painting or listening to a podcast or even meditation! There are plenty of really fun things you can do alone. Things that are more meaningful than staring at your television.

Understand that your own company is good enough

This one’s probably the most crucial thing to remember. See, you have to understand that you’re not “boring by yourself” or that you need other people’s company to enjoy your day.

You matter, period. You don’t need other people’s validation or approval for this to be true.

Are you comfortable in your own company? What are the fun things you do alone?

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About author: Kate likes many things and she’s not afraid to shamelessly share her love for them. Two of the things she really obsesses over are personal growth and creative living. She passionately shares practical advice and opinions about them on her creative lifestyle blog, All the Trinkets.