In early summer, the light hits differently. The mornings feel slow and the possibilities are growing. And the days have the softness that makes everything that makes your thoughts, your breath, your pace. It is a season that leads to slowness, spontaneity, and sometimes solitude. And for me, the invitation couldn’t come at a time I needed more.
For the first time in my life, I am taking on the role of caregiving. I support the people I love through difficult illnesses. I am deeply grateful to be able to manifest in such a meaningful way, but I also had to learn in real time how essential it is to pour myself out. It remains grounded. Stay considerate without burning out. Planning a date for your summer solo – a deliberate stretch of time to reconnect with yourself – can be one of the most resilient ways to do just that.
What is a summer solo date?
At its core, your solo date is some dedication time spent many times doing what you like, for yourself, for yourself. It’s not about productivity, performance or self-improvement. It’s about tuning, slowing down and choosing pleasure for that.
A summer solo date means you can take the form you need. You can plan ahead or plan completely voluntarily. It can be quiet or active, luxurious, or grounded. The key is that you choose to spend time with yourself. There’s nothing more.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- It features a picnic in your favorite park, your go-to sandwiches, fresh fruits, and a book that you meant to read. (You can’t put the latest release of Annabel Monaghan: It’s a love story. )
- Visited museums and galleries paired with coffee and matcha at a nearby cafe.
- You will have a morning bike ride or walk followed by a leisurely brunch at home.
- On an afternoon at the Farmers Market, prepare dinner just for you.
- “Yes Day” where you follow all whims – write in window shops, diaries and go to matinee.
There’s no wrong way to plan your solo summer ritual. The key is to choose the activities that will make you feel like you are. It reminds you that you don’t need opportunities or partners to experience joy.
Nutritious Summer Solo Design
This time, you don’t have to be elaborate because you have meaning. Often, it is the easiest moment to feel the most luxurious. Wandering through bookstores, stretching in the grass with good novels, tasting food, and becoming more and more liked you. It is choosing to be with yourself in a way that feels intentional. Time alone is not a retreat from life, but a return to it. And in seasons often marked by movement and momentum, creating spaces for tranquility can be a quiet self-esteem.
First off, I share some of my favorite ways to plan this time, so you can take a step back, slowly, and return to yourself.
Time alone is not a retreat from life, but a return to it.
Start with the size
Make your morning feel like it’s slowly unfolding.
There is something powerful about choosing not to hurry. Especially in the summer, when the air feels soft and generous, the way you start the morning can set the tone for the rest of your day. If you are allowed to go on a summer solo date, resist the urge to jump out of bed and start “doing.” Instead, it will make your day easier.
It stretches under the cover. Drink coffee without distraction. Open Windows. Write some lines in your journal – not because you have to do it, but because you will reach it.
There are several prompts to help you get started inside.
- What does my body need today?
- How do you want to feel by the end of the day?
- What brings joy to me, even in the smallest ways?
This is not about checking the box, it’s about softening it to yourself. Spacious mornings are a reminder that we don’t necessarily need to push to feel fulfilled at all times. Sometimes there is enough presence.
Wander without a plan
Your curiosity will guide you.
One of these kinds of gifts is that no one is waiting for you. There are no reservations for rushing. There is no conversation to keep it flowing. You can move completely at your own pace. This is more unusual than it should be. So why not spend a few hours after your own joy?
“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper job.”
– Marie Oliver
Some easy ways to wander:
- Explore your local library and sit with what you find.
- Check out the weekend market and flower stands. No list, no agenda.
- Come a long way through the neighbours you love.
- Dive into art galleries and museums you’ve never visited before.
- You walk into a store that you’ve always passed by, but you’ve never entered.
The point is not do Something impressive. It’s about releasing grips against the construction and leading joy. This time, it’s abolished and relaxed, but often the inspiration is alive and alive. Surprise you that day.
Please have a bit of meal
Eat something that feels like a note of love for yourself.
When you’re alone, meals can be a simple afterthought. In the middle of the task, I make a call and get a phone call. But one of the most restorative parts of a summer solo date is making the sense of normality extraordinary. Food, especially when prepared for you, is an act of self-promotion.
You don’t have to go all out (though you can if it brings joy to you). Maybe it’s baguettes and peak season peaches, eaten on grass blankets. Maybe it’s a pasta you’ve bookmarked for weeks and finally made in a glass of music performances and a cold and delicious thing in your hands. Maybe it’s a solo lunch at your favorite place. You ordered that you fell in love with it and ate it slowly.
Let this be your permission to make it beautiful. Use your favorite plate. Carefully chop up the herbs. Light a candle if you feel it. The point is not perfect, it’s existence.
Need some inspiration? Here are some of my favorite recipes that I find perfect for solo summer meals.
Anywhere in the kitchen balcony or barefoot eats it feels like a small celebration. You don’t just feed your body. You remind yourself that it’s worth worrying.
Please rest as a ritual
The tranquility becomes the most magical part of the day.
It’s easy to think of rest as a “real” moment, a pause between previous activity and productivity. But on your summer solo date, take a break teeth That moment. That’s the part that will embrace you by the day you create it. Stop reaching and simply receive it.
Maybe you close your eyes and stretch in the sun, a breeze grazes your skin. Maybe you lie on the bed with a calming playlist and breathe. Or you might take a nap without setting an alarm. There’s no wrong way to rest.
Often we treat it like something that we have to earn rest. But what if it was part of your day’s rhythm and not the reward at the end of it? What happens if you sacred your loneliness? On the day I have space for someone else, this kind of tranquility helps me get back to myself with a little more softness.
There are a few gentle ways to invite a rest on a solo date.
- I lie in the grass and watch the clouds.
- Listen to guided meditations and sound bass.
- Take a leisurely bath with a few drops of essential oils.
- Read beautiful things that have nothing to do with productivity.
- Sit in silence and simply notice: how your body feels, the smell of air, the sound of the distance.
Let this be a reminder: you don’t always need to do Something. Sometimes being with yourself in tranquility is the most meaningful act of all.
How a Summer Solo Date Reconnects You
Choosing quietness can feel radical. Spend a day when there is no one other than yourself and call it enough. But that’s exactly the magic of a summer solo date. For me, it has become essential to carve out this kind of time. Not because you need rest, but because you want to remain rooted in who you are, even if it appears for someone else.
But you spend your day and let it reflect what you need. Let me feel like you. And hopefully, when the day is over, a little more present, a little more full, and a little more connected to one relationship that carries you through everything.
Source: Camille Styles – camillestyles.com
