Which in practice means that I adjust the way I do something for a set period, and then stop to assess what I learned from the experience.

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Some of these experiments are short-term and relatively simple. You can learn a lot from changing up your caffeine consumption habits or diet for a few weeks, for instance, and deciding to avoid caffeine completely or relegate its use to a specific time frame each day is a straightforward enough system to year.

I recently undertook a larger-scale experiment, which involved setting aside dating, and all related activities, for one year. I was newly dating, and I realized it had been a while since I had been solo in that way. Further, it had been a while since I took a step back and looked at the bigger picture when it came to that facet of my life. A relationship-focused experiment seemed like a good accompaniment to dating other adjustments.

This was the case for me, anyway. Combine that propensity with the bending that tends to happen within relationships—where both people give a little to ensure that everyone is getting what they need out of the partnership—and you can understand my mindset at the time.

A Year Without Dating

What did I expect to learn here, anyway? It was about for that space, using all of it. It was, in some ways, about spending the time I would have spent dating on becoming the person I wanted to be when I started dating again in the future.

Second, everything is connected to every other thing.

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Some of the most practical insights I gleaned from this experiment had nothing to year with dating, and everything to do with how I manage my time, how I see myself as an individual, and what I value. After that period, however, I deleted my dating apps, just click for source my time, adjusted my habits, and the realizations and changes started appearing with relative frequency.

Fourth, friends are vitally important and become increasingly difficult to make as you get for. In other words, to be doing it for you, not for someone else. This essay was originally published in my newsletter, which goes out twice a month, and which you can subscribe to here.