15 Ideas For Enjoying A Weekend Alone
The clock slowly ticks down.
4:55…
4:56…
The last few minutes are excruicating.
4:58…
4:59….
Finally the clock strikes 5 and you smell the sweet aroma of freedom!
Grinning the hardest you have all week, you throw on your jacket and head for the parking lot.
Your elation is tinged bittersweet, however. You don’t have any plans for the next two days. You’re just happy you don’t have to be at the office.
The Solo Weekend
Can you have fun on a weekend on your own? Of course.
The key is to identify fun activities you will enjoy, and make a plan for how to spend the 60 glorious hours between 5 Friday evening and the blaring iPhone alarm on Monday morning.
The “lonely loser” is the butt of jokes and often the target for derision.
You might even feel ashamed for not having the exciting social life everyone else seems to have. Or maybe you have friends that text you to get together, but you prefer to spend time alone.
Many times I’ve begged off of meeting up with people, texting back: “Sorry, I can’t make it tonight”. Only to pull on my pajamas and enjoy the evening on my own, strumming guitar, or writing blog posts like this one.
No one wants to be the friendless weirdo, famously depicted by Steve Carell in “The 40 Year Old Virgin”. I look at it a different way.
In that film, Carell’s character had an awesome apartment, cool hobbies, and a sick early 2000s gaming rig.
He played an instrument, built models, and was content in his own company.
It’s played for laughs in the movie, a hilarious and a highly recommended classic, (You can even watch it this weekend.) but we can learn a lot from the character about how to have an extremely fun, relaxing, enjoyable weekend on your own.
1. Prioritize Your fun.
The most amazing benefit of spending a weekend alone is that you can do whatever you want!
When you’re chilling on your own, no pursuit is too weird, too boring, or too obscure.
Steve Carell’s character painted models, sang karaoke, and blasted away on his tuba.
Some people might think those activities are boring, but he was having the time of his life.
The benefit of spending time alone is you don’t have to entertain someone else, or compromise to spend your precious weekend hours doing things you don’t enjoy.
If you’re planning a weekend alone, take his lead and think about your particular interests. Check out the article Best Hobbies for Loners to discover new activities you can enjoy.
I like to grab the local alternative paper, note concerts and comedians coming to town, and just poke around online to see what’s going on in my city over the weekend.
2. Make a plan.
Like a huge nerd, schedule your weekend ahead of time.
You don’t have to plan every waking second. Instead, identify 2- 3 main events you are excited about experiencing.
A plan offers you the opportunity to look forward to your weekend alone, whether it’s by choice or by necessity.
Your plan ensures you will prioritize the important events you listed, and organize around them.
Examples include seeing the new action hero blockbuster, dinner at an interesting restaurant, a hike, or a boxing class.
Activity classes are a great option for weekends alone. If you don’t feel like interacting with people, you still need to force yourself relate to other humans once in a while.
A boxing class, for example, will have you sparring and training with others.
You can have low effort chats with your classmates and scratch that itch to be friendly, without a big commitment.
If you do want to make friends, you can be chatty and offer to exchange numbers with people, or invite them to get a beer after class.
You’ve already broken the ice with an introduction in the class, and you have a shared interest, so making friends (if you want) will be easier in this context than others.
3. Eat like a king
Highlight your fantastic weekend alone by pleasuring your senses with a delicious meal.
If it’s in your budget, splash for a lavish restaurant dinner, or enjoy a beautiful dish you create a home. (Cooking is one of the recommended Best Hobbies for Introverts)
Steve Carell invested an afternoon chopping vegetables and mixing spices to prepare egg salad.
Again, it’s played as a joke in the movie, as if enjoying an afternoon cooking for yourself is something only an outcast would do.
In real life, cooking for yourself can be relaxing and fun.
With just a few pots, utensils, and a recipe, you can turn a heap of ingredients into dishes from exotic cultures all over the world, or replicate familiar flavors of your grandma’s home cooking.
I love preparing food for myself.
I press play on my favorite podcast, or stream some music (at the moment I’m really into Motown hits, c. 2010- 2016 Rihanna, and the American folk band, Lord Huron) , and sip tea while I create something amazing.
Once you understand the basics of flavor, heat, and texture, cooking is easy.
It’s a fun way to express your creativity, and you get to eat your projects when you’re done. Exploring your creative side, while spoiling yourself with good food is an excellent use of your weekend free time.
You can also take the opportunity to try a new restaurant in your city, or stop in and visit an old favorite. Any size city will have a food blog or restaurant guide you can check for tips about places you should try.
Try a different type of cuisine every weekend, or identify a type you like and test venues against each other. If you get interested in cooking, you can try new foods made by professional, then challenge yourself to recreate them at home.
4. Go Exploring.
No matter where you live, there are fun adventures to be enjoyed in your own town, or within an hour’s drive. Make a list of fun day trips near you: wine country, ghost towns, state parks; and schedule one weekend each month that you check them out.
Book an Airbnb and live like a tourist, 45 minutes away from your own house. Go back to work on Monday bragging about how you were the first city slicker to finish the famous 10 pound burger at a greasy spoon three towns over.
From Salt Lake City, where I currently live, there’s more weekend adventures than I could do in 5 years of weekends. Some attractions I’ve explored are soaking in natural mineral hot springs in Southern Idaho, hiking iconic rock features in Moab, Arches National Park, abandoned mining towns, even Las Vegas six hours away when I’m feeling adventurous. Pull out a map, gas up the car, and have a weekend worth remembering.
5. Start a blog or YouTube channel
Most introverts have rich inner worlds,and lots of thoughts and feelings; we’re just not always great at expressing them to other people.
A blog provides the opportunity to get your thoughts out into the world.
Ironically, it feels easier to share myself with the entire faceless internet than opening up to an individual person.
Writing a blog, or filming YouTube videos, is perfect for people who are interested in subjects that everyone around you is tired of hearing you talk about. Once you put it online, people that share your interest will find you.
If you have expertise with a subject, your blog can share that information and help others.
As I mentioned, I live in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I love it. I was always posting cool photos or stories about the city to my Facebook page.
My effusive posts garnered only polite disinterest from my family and friends, most of whom don’t live in Utah, and have never been here. I started a YouTube channel to have an outlet for talking about the quirky culture in my chosen hometown.
It’s just a hobby, but I’ve posted over 50 videos at this time, some of which have tens of thousands of views.
Every day I get comments from viewers expressing how I helped them decide to move to Salt Lake City, or not.
It feels awesome to help people make huge decisions, by simply sharing information. That’s also what I’m doing with blogging here at Solitary Beast.
Along with helping other people, another cool result is that I’ve started earning income from the ads shown on my channel.
It’s just beer money at this point, but I love having a hobby that earns me money.
If you have any hobby that you love talking about, from fixed gear cycling to training rescue pit bulls, there are other people looking for information about that same hobby.
You can have fun helping those people, make connections with friends that share your interest, and possibly earn money doing it as well.
For creativity, helping others, ease to get started, and just plain fun, starting a blog or YouTube channel is my top recommendation for spending a weekend alone.
6. Call your grandmother.
Or any older relative you haven’t spoken to in a while. Loneliness is a big problem in the lives of American seniors. The children are grown up and moved away, many of their friends have passed away, they may be widowed. In fact, older people are the largest growing group of Facebook users, as they try to keep up with the times to stay in touch with their younger family members.
You may be spending the weekend alone by choice, or because you’re in a new city and haven’t made a friend group yet. Older folks, on the other hand, are often confined to the house because they can’t drive anymore, are sick, or too weak to get out like they once did.
Make the time to call your grandmother/ grandfather/ even an aunt or uncle. If you’ve moved away, send them a small gift of your new home, like a postcard, t-shirt, or coffee mug. A few months ago, I traveled to London. During my time there, I bought a souvenir coffee mug and mailed it to my grandma. When I was home for the Thanksgiving holiday, I saw that she placed the mug on a shelf in her formal dining room, with the good dinnerware and family photos. It was just an 8 quid coffee mug from a tourist shop, but it meant a lot to her, because it was from me.
I felt warm and fuzzy inside to see that my small gift was so important to her, the same way I do every time I call her.
It may just be a 15 minute phone call for you, but it could be the highlight of your older relative’s week. If you have a weekend to yourself, take the time to enrich someone else by reaching out.
Additionally, if you have a family member or old friend that you haven’t spoken to in a while. Write them an email or call them up to reach out. People will be posting beaming selfies to social media every week, but if you call them, you’ll find out the less happy truth. Their husband is laid off, someone is sick, all kinds of challenges are happening. Most people use their socials to brag about vacations and promotions. Not many people post the truth of the sadder events taking place in their lives, but they long for someone to share their feelings with. You’ll also have the opportunity to talk about issues in your life, both good and bad. Many introverts struggle to open up to people. If you offer loved ones the opportunity to open up to you, you’ll feel good about helping someone you care about, as well as feel safer sharing your own feelings.
7. Go Swimming
There’s something about submerging yourself in water that’s instantly fun.
Gravity loosens it’s grip on your body and you can float, flip, hold your breath, blow bubbles, or pull on flippers and go super fast. It’s the closest thing to being in outer space you can experience here on Earth.
You can take my advice from tip #4 and explore your local area for secret lakes and swimming holes. In colder weather, find a hotel, spa, or gym with an enclosed, or heated pool. Swimming is one of the most efficient cardio exercises there is, and because it’s so fun, you won’t even feel like you’re working out.
8. Plan a vacation.
You don’t even have to go. Discovering an unfamiliar place, whether it’s an exotic destination, or the next state over, is exciting and fun.
Search forums for traveler tips for the best time to visit, go on Airbnb and marvel at lavish villas there, read blogs and watch videos on the local sights and attractions of your chosen spot. Of course, after all this, you will be itching to book a flight.
9. Get a part time job.
If you don’t need the money, use it to save for the big trip abroad that you just got excited about. You can also use spare cash to invest, save for big purchases, or buy necessities for the new hobbies you’ve discovered.
A part time job will also get you out of the house, and introduce you to new people in a low pressure setting, depending on the job. If the job is in a field you enjoy, you’ll meet people with shared interests and start to make friends, even if you only hang out at work.
Not all loners are shy, but many of us need to be encouraged to spend time outside our own thoughts. Even if you enjoy alone time, interacting with others is necessary for your mental and emotional health. Even famous introvert Nikolai Tesla famously developed a relationship with a local pigeon. Your brain is designed to interact with others, even if you can thrive on a much smaller amount of interaction than non-introverts.
A fun, low stress part time job will pad your pockets with extra money, get you out of the house, and introduce you to some humans who can meet your need for social interaction.
10. Clean your room.
Now I sound like Jordan Peterson, or your dad.
There’s a lot of research showing that simply cleaning and organizing your bedroom can have an oversized impact on your levels of stress and happiness.
Cleaning your room clears your thoughts.
You will have a more peaceful Monday morning when you wake up in an organized room, that smells fresh and clean.
Run a vacuum, dust the corners, and put fresh linens on the bed. You can even get fancy and buy a scented oil diffuser and put up some photos.
Your bedroom is a rest haven. Getting it clean will feel amazing.
Do future you a huge favor and clean your room.
11. Lift weights.
Even if you’re in a great mood, regular exercise can boost your body’s production of hormones that make you feel amazing: such as dopamine, oxytocin, and cortisol.
Any physical activity that gets you moving will stimulate your endorphins.
Regular exercise also keeps your body looking great, which can help keep your self esteem high.
As you make progress in the gym, either by losing fat or adding muscle to your frame, your confidence will skyrocket.
The feeling of accomplishment that comes from seeing myself become leaner, bigger, and stronger in unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. Looking good plays a big part of feeling good.
12. Rent a scooter.
Terrorize the streets of your city as a scooter gang of one.
Use Google Maps to plan a tour to several of the attractions within scooter distance of each other in your town.
Jump on and zip between tourist attractions, grab a slice of pizza, smile at friendly children as you whip through the park.
13. Create something.
Resist the urge to only consume entertainment over the weekend and use a few of your 60 hours of free time to work your creative muscles.
YouTube has free tutorials that will teach you to bake a cake, record a podcast, build a birdhouse, anything you can think of.
Creating is very important for typically intelligent and inquisitive introverts.
By using some of your time to create, you’ll have something to show for your time off and have a sense of pride for what you have made.
14. Print out cool photos from your phone and frame them in your space.
You have years of memories stored in your phone. (If you’re smart, you’ll also have them backed up to the cloud in case you lose your device.)
Bring your photos into the physical world and use them to brighten up your space. Use an app like Shutterfly, or go to the drugstore and print them out, they probably sell affordable frames as well. Brighten someone else’s day by giving them a physical photo that you took of them, or of the two of you together. This is a thoughtful, caring gift that people love receiving.
Every time you walk in your hallway or sit at your desk, you’ll transport back to a fun memory in your life and smile.
15. End the weekend with a bang.
Top off your awesome solitary weekend by planning a fun activity for Sunday evening.
This should be an activity that you’re really excited about.
This gives you something to look forward to all weekend, and lets you go to bed Sunday night with a big smile on your face, so you can head into the work week energized and happy.
You can have make your favorite meal, grab a few beers at the local pub while watching your favorite team, or go for a bike ride at sunset.
Choose something that will get your blood pumping and brighten your day.
Conclusion
Whether you spend this weekend alone by circumstance, or by choice, seize your opportunity to make the best of your time off by filling it with new experiences, fun, and adventure.
In the routine of daily life, it’s easy to forget that each of us in on this majestic, intriguing, wild, colorful planet called “Earth” for a limited time only.
Don’t waste a minute staring at the walls when you could be out exploring, living life to the fullest.
-Solitary Beast