Dinner out
I’ve been treating myself to eating meals at the restaurant bar, and I quite like sitting there, but I haven’t figured out how to do anything other than look at my phone. Actually, I’ll extend the phone problem to most things I do on my own. I’ve gotta stop doing that! Do I bring a book? That seems weird. Do I just…sit? Also weird, and potentially creepy. I don’t really want to strike up conversation with people next to me, unless they are basically grandpas who are amazing to talk to. Seriously, love talking to old people. After a while it gets weird, and I end up rushing through my meal to get out of there. Help!
Movie
I’m pretty ok with this one, but just haven’t gone for it in a while. You just have to find that sweet spot with timing. You don’t want to miss the trailers, but you can’t go too early and endure really the only embarrassing part of seeing a movie alone: making that fact public when the lights are up. I’ve seen most Twilight movies alone for…reasons. I know, I’m a BOSS.
Concerts
It’s not that I don’t have friends. It’s just a short list of really good ones, and a lot of them don’t live near me anymore. Big breakups tend to instantly do away with your go-to “group,” too. Plus, I’ve got some wildly varied taste in music, and can’t always find someone who wants to see Jungle on a whim, for example. But holy hell, how do you even attempt a concert alone? Is it a lost cause? I have never seen a person alone at a concert, but then again, maybe they just didn’t stand out as badly as I’d fear. Literally dancing by myself seems really depressing, but I guess it wouldn’t be the first time.
Traveling
This one doesn’t really scare me, but I just feel like it’s TOO much time alone. I’d like the guarantee of serendipitous meetings with new fun friends, but I’m afraid that my lack of skills in, for example, the eating dinner alone department might prevent that from happening. How do you make friends when traveling? Friends that aren’t going to murder you, I mean? My boss just told me to take more time off (yea, that’s how you know it’s bad), so I’m thinking of taking a few days in some SoCal beach town pre-Comic Con this year. Maybe some surfers will take me in and we’ll all hang out and have a great time. Right?
Making friends
Finally, I want to get more comfortable and confident making friends so that I don’t have to do so many things alone. I just read an article in which someone described themselves as an ambivert, and I didn’t even know that was a thing. I feel like ambivert might be the new cronut. But still, the concept rings true for me: I can “turn it on” and even enjoy being extroverted, but other times I go full turtle and don’t really want to talk to anyone. Crowded parties or networking events where I’m totally alone and have to go up to someone, for example, are the worst. I want to just get over it and stick my neck out a bit more. Take a class, join a meetup, the works.
There it is: my list of single lady things I hope to conquer! Have you mastered these? Tell me your secrets!
