How to Romanticize Your Life

“But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

Dead Poets Society

Romanticize your life. I’m sure you’ve heard and come across this phrase a lot. It is accompanied by pretty, feminine, and coquettish images that seem to draw on another time. But romance isn’t silver mirrors, silk nightgowns, and macaroons. So, what is it? What’s the appeal? That can be summed up by defining romance.

Romance is not devoid of ups and downs, heartbreaks and passion, but what it does encompass is love, wonder, and adventure, a trifecta for creating a beautiful life. The thought of living a beautiful life is lovely and the wonderful thing is that anyone can do it because the foundation for romanticizing your life is turning the ordinary into the extraordinary and making mundane moments beautiful.

This post will share my ideas on how to romanticize your life.

Practice Gratitude

In practicing gratitude, you realize and remind yourself of the good in your life and refuel your faith and hope to persevere, to press on. It’s important to appreciate the here and now, what you currently possess, and your current position. This will ground you in the present.

It is only in the present that you can live. So, look at how you can change your mindset and encourage simply being. In a spirit and activity of gratefulness, you grow to love not only your life but everything your life is surrounded by.

Slow Down

In a world where hustle culture, rush, and impatience have taken over, slowing down is a necessity. You don’t have to do everything now. In fact, it is impossible to do everything now or even be in the same place as everyone. Life doesn’t quite work like that. Take a breath.

Slowing down will allow you to rest, become more mindful and assert intention on the things that really matter to you. Life is not a race. It’s meant to be lived with purpose. And if you’re rushing because you feel like you haven’t found your purpose, that’s when you really need to slow down. You’re not going to run into your purpose, your purpose will run into you.

Add Romance to Your Life

Incorporating romance into your life can add innumerable value to your life. And before you think this means you need to go out on more dates, it’s not quite that. Sure, romance undoubtedly incurs thoughts and notions of love, but it also includes ideas of heroism, adventure, mystery, and beauty.

Seeing that it also is defined by things that don’t have a factual basis, it can even be pushed to include fantasy. This opens a range of ways to add romance to your life. You can add romance to your life in little ways such as watching romantic videos, reading classical romantic literature, going to galleries, and embarking on your own little adventure.

Bring Life into Your Home

Nothing quite adds softness or romance like bringing life into the home. There’s a reason a lot of romantic and Rococo art includes nature. Nature is a stress reliever and spirit refresher. Buy yourself flowers or start an indoor garden to bring life into your home. It does good for the soul and for inspiration.

You don’t have to limit yourself to just your home though. Wonder in the great outdoors, frolic in fields, splash around in the rain. And the limits don’t end there. Life doesn’t only mean plants but animals. If you have any pet allergies, by all means, bring in all the plats you desire; but, if you are in tip-top shape to care for a little creature, find yourself a pet to adopt.

Simplify and Minimalize

Things are easy as pie when they are simple. Intention becomes clear, burdens become lighter, and life isn’t quite as heavy. Honestly, you don’t need a lot of things to lead a meaningful, full, and beautiful life. Live a more minimalistic lifestyle and get rid of the things that you don’t need, avoid excess, and look for more sustainable products.

I feel that simplifying and minimalizing do not only pertain to the tangible but the intangible as well. Less is more works for just about every life aspect. You can rely on a multitude of things, people, or places (all the noun groups) to give your life satisfaction. That comes from within. So less negative thoughts, and more growth mindset. Less burnout and more short to-do lists. Less overthinking and more meditation.

Cultivate a Beautiful Life

Your life is yours alone and you can create whatever kind of life you want—that’s beautiful. Beauty is highly subjective, and you will find that everyone has a different definition. As a multi-passionate creative, I like to think of beauty as an appreciation of creation, of unique and individual qualities, of the good in what I see.

Considering this definition, you can cultivate a beautiful life by adding and transforming your space into what is truly beautiful for you. This may mean redecorating your bedroom into a pink princess room, throwing out dresses in place of pantsuits, changing careers, or even moving to a remote foreign countryside. What matters is what value are you adding to your life. If your life value is increasing, then keep doing more of that.

Appreciate the Small Things

Because of social media, many are influenced to want a life of big grand events, but grand events do not make the whole of a life—small moments do. When you add up all the small moments over your life, those are going to be the core of your fulfillment.

Stop rushing over the small moments and instead live in them, notice them, and appreciate them. Be grateful for every new morning, new moment, and new happening. Literally, stop and smell the roses.

Expose Yourself to Culture

Exposing yourself to various cultures can propel your growth and cultivation of a beautiful life. Every culture has beautiful nuances that can add value to your life. Culture sometimes gets a bad rap, but I think that’s because it’s often used in the sense of identity, but, really, culture is a result of that. Culture characterizes a way of living individually and creative products of human society (if I am to include the scholarly aspect).

Culture exposure also includes acquiring and refining tastes. Romance can be found in the arts and humanities. In fact, I would say it’s integral. As it is what we live for and keeps us going. So, expand your horizons and expose yourself to the arts. Visit museums, opera houses, and preservation centers. Learn new philosophies and find intriguing scientific breakthroughs. This will encourage you to open your mind and expand creatively.

Change Your Environment

You often hear about nurture versus nature in what makes a person who they are. Both play an integral role in development as a child, and they come also come into play as an adult. Yes! You can still be influenced by nature and nurture. Where you are living and who are you letting speak in to you. Nurture takes a little bit longer to promote, but nature is more agile.

A podcast that I enjoy listening to is the School of Self Image by Tonya Leigh. In her episode “The Fastest Way to Change Your Self-Image,” she mentions how one of the fastest ways to change how you see yourself, and, in turn, your life, is to change your environment. If you want to start creating a life you love, change your environment. Put yourself in the environment that represents who you want to be. For example, if that’s an elegant woman, go to upscale and elevated environments. This external change quickly works on getting you into the right headspace to create the life you want.

Changing your environment will work on your mind. Do what is feasible for you. If you have the ability and funds to move and have given the idea serious consideration, go ahead and move. If you work from home, get dressed and set up your office in an upscale coffee bar for the day.

Be Kind to Yourself

Selfcare is preached on a lot and it’s great, but it won’t stick if you aren’t being kind to yourself, and kindness isn’t always nice, but it is good. You don’t always want to do what feels good for you, but is good for you. Show every aspect of your life love. Walk in your worth. Be patient with yourself. Do the inner work and healing.

You have the power to make your life be what you want. Take that power back and choose to create a beautiful life for yourself, one filled with love, beauty, and wonder. That celebrates what’s important to you.

Life is inherently romantic, an enormous creation, a portfolio of beautiful projects. Stop wasting time and be present in your life to make what you want happen.