How to romanticize your life: Tips from a person who didn’t believe in life romanticization

Hi, I’m Eireen, and I can’t live in a moment. 

There was a point in my life when I would kill off every second of my free time with mindless scrolling. I slept with something playing in the background. I showered with my phone. I was on my phone when I was out with my friends. I always rushed, even when there was no reason for it. And consequences came back to bite me. 

Until I learned about what life romanticization is. Now, I’ve been practicing a whimsical lifestyle for almost a year. So, trust me: I know ball. In this article, I will share my experience on how I romanticized my life. And amazing Rychel Johnson, a licensed clinical counselor, will support me in viewing life romanticization from a scientific psychological perspective.

What does it mean to romanticize your life?

For the longest possible time, I lived the life of someone else. Social media triggered me to be something I wasn’t: chasing money, forcing “effortless” looks, and striving to be an “overnight success,” but God forbid you tell someone you want to be successful.

I believed that people who romanticized life were just fools who saw life through pink glasses. That was until my deeper research. I learned that romanticizing doesn’t mean creating something extraordinary but realizing the beauty your life already has.

I still struggle with it. But after a year of practicing life romanticization (aka mindfulness), I realized better who I am at the core. And you know what? This girl ain’t that bad.

For me, romanticizing life is the intentional appreciation of the joy of daily life. When you pay attention to something small and beautiful, life in general appears more fun and whimsical. I found four pillars of life romanticization for myself:

1. mindfulness, the practice of being here and now
2. intentionality, a habit of paying attention to good moments
3. positivity, an optimistic mindset
4. protagonist mindset, taking radical ownership of your life

Did I immediately snap from “I don’t live the life I want” to “My life is magical?” No. Romanticizing a life you believed for decades was wrong and miserable wasn’t easy. Do I regret it? Heck no.

That’s exactly the thing that surprised me: I didn’t do anything special, but the way I experience life changed 180°. Life romanticization didn’t cost me time. My schedule is pretty much the same as it was. 

I was stunned. “All of the time, it was that easy?”

How to romanticize your life? My personal approach

Romanticizing life means appreciating life as it is, not creating a more aesthetic version of it. Let me quickly summarize what I did to romanticize my life:

1. I learned what I liked, what my values are, and who the authentic me is.
2. I exaggerated the beauty of moments.
3. I stuck to my ordinary schedule, didn’t change a thing.
4. I was kind to myself: trying low-effort life romanticization tips when I actually had the energy. 
5. I stopped myself from rushing and relaxed my muscles when I noticed I caught myself hurrying for no reason.
6. I picked up hobbies I enjoyed in childhood.
7. I tried to minimize my use of digital technology.

This approach to a whimsical lifestyle can be a great start for anyone who doesn’t know what romanticization is but wants to give it a go. Let’s explore how I romanticized my life in more detail:

I learned what I actually liked

Every one of us experiences life differently. We have different emotions, backgrounds, tastes. That’s why we like different music, stories, colors, forms, arts. When I first started to romanticize my life, I used aesthetics as a treasure trove of ideas to explore what I actually liked.

Looking back, I know what worked well for me to discover what I actually enjoy and not what society instilled in me:

• I didn’t limit myself to one aesthetic. The idea behind it is that one feature/preference shouldn’t define you as a personality. That’s how Taylor Swift and Metallica both ended up in my summer playlist.
• I use aesthetics for activity inspirations. For example, I saw a girl on Pinterest collecting stones, leaves, acorns. It really resonated with me because I live near a forest. On my next walks, I actually started to pay attention to what’s on the ground instead of scrolling.
• I avoided comparisons on social media (tried to). Of course, I couldn’t fully get rid of social media. So, every time I caught myself thinking about “them having it better,” “others doing differently,” “people judging,” I reminded myself that there’s them and there’s me. We can’t and shouldn’t be the same.
• I was messy and imperfect. That was the hardest point. But how can we know what we like without trying things in the first place? When I had zero expectations, I felt freer to be me and experiment. That showed me what specific elements of work and hobbies I actually enjoyed.

I exaggerated

Life feels boring or uninteresting because we let it. We compare ourselves to the fancy influencers who’ve already taken their third vacation this year. But it’s just not realistic and too idealized.

Exaggerating intentionality helped me to make the ordinary moments extraordinary. And that’s precisely how I realized that my life is exceptional. Meaning, nobody else lived it. Nobody else got to experience the beautiful and heartbreaking moments I had.

What I mean by exaggerating is thinking about every moment as if it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. What I do to feel is:

• I slow down.
• My eyes close.
• My plans and worries about tomorrow naturally fade away.
• I take deeper breaths.
• I might even dance.

A useful tip: When you have such mindful, inspiring moments, document them. Write about what you did, where, and how. I do this with the Breeze’s mood tracker, and it helps me to find my favorite forms of romanticization.

I slowed down

I realized we completely lost the plot with hustle culture when I saw 20-year-olds complaining they’re “running out of time.” What do you mean? You didn’t even fully grow up. Your brain still develops. You still grow teeth, you know?

But I don’t judge because I also grew up with that same narrative: “Work first, rest after.” But they lied to us. They keep lying. 

Rest is a priority. Don’t believe me? Then, believe this 2025 study published in Cogent Social Sciences that found that people who feel chronically short on time are more likely to report stress, loneliness, anxiety, and fatigue [1] Jaggi, S. K., & Gupta, D. J. Chronically busy, chronically unhealthy? Understanding the time poverty and health interplay through systematic review synthesis. Cogent Social Sciences. 2025. .

Ever since realizing the absurdity of hustle culture, I’ve created a better personal approach—dilly-dallying! Its main principles are:

• Do things for fun
• Radiate the main character’s energy
• Flirt with life

I don’t want to look back on my life and be disappointed that I didn’t do things I wanted to do. Thus, the main objective of dilly-dallying is to live without regrets.

I returned to what I loved in childhood

Rediscovering what you loved in childhood brought me the same joy it did in childhood. It was crazy to realize that something as silly as roller skating can bring me so many emotions, so much joy. What we loved in childhood never leaves us fully.

I highly advise trying something you liked as a child, even if you don’t continue to romanticize your life. To do it, you can:

• Rewatch childhood videos/photos
• Talking to parents and siblings
• Visit your childhood home

I went analog

As soon as I tried small acts of romanticization, my screen time naturally went down.

Analog life is a recent trend to switch from digital to offline. Hear me out: going analog fits exceptionally well in this little romance we call “life romantization” because:

• It forces us to slow down.
• It prevents overstimulation and digital fatigue.
• It saves time for more self-care and inspiring hobbies.
• It prevents comparison on social media.

I found it so much easier to focus on my morning routine and be fully present in the moment when I didn’t have to go on my phone. That’s why I got myself a mechanical watch, a film camera, a bedside clock, a physical journal, etc. I switched to things that have only one purpose, unlike using my phone for everything.

30 whimsical things to do to romanticize your life

Some of these ideas to romanticize life are the things that I already tried; others are on my whimsical to-do list that I am looking forward to trying:

1. Get up with the sunrise and actually breathe the morning air.
2. Download an app-blocking app to limit phone use in the first two hours of waking up.
3. Send those risky texts to feel alive.
4. Actually call people instead of texting.
5. Shower in candlelight.
6. Have a wish jar beside the bed to end the day with positive affirmations.
7. Collect rocks, shells, buttons, etc., and create a memory box (or a junk journal).
8. Organize a coffee/tea station like a mini coffee shop.
9. Talk to strangers (bonus points if they’re older adults).
10. Wear the weirdest piece of clothing from your wardrobe.
11. Read (or at least buy) a newspaper
12. Replace ordinary ice trays with molds with unique shapes.
13. Film yourself making dinner as if you’re in a cooking show.
14. Write letters to your loved ones.
15. Get yourself prism decorations to create a rainbow in your room (best works with direct sunlight).
16. Braid flowers into your hair.
17. Go down the Wikipedia rabbit hole and make notes.
18. Talk to your pet.
19. Paint your room a more colorful shade.
20. Wear actual pajamas to bed.
21. Stay up all night and stargaze.
22. Go to the earliest movie screening at the movie theater
23. Wear perfume at home
24. Frame love letters and display them in your house.
25. Craft something easy.
26. Make sketches of things you see (clouds, people in a restaurant, trinkets).
27. Take a bubble bath with flower petals.
28. Create a menu with your dinner as if you were in a restaurant.
29. Sit on the kitchen floor with friends and talk about nothing and everything.
30. Take your lunch break outside (even if you have to sit on the stairs).

Is it good to romanticize your life? Potential pitfalls of being a whimsical person

I get the pessimism that there is about life romanticization. As with every theory, there are complications when putting it into practice. Here are some problems with romanticizing your life:

• Over-romanticization that shows up as toxic positivity or living in denial of personal/collective problems.
• Performance for a non-existing audience, hence the problem of reward anticipation.
• Overconsumerism.
• Exclusivity, as if romanticization is available only to an elite group of people who can maintain this lifestyle and correspond to certain standards (“pretty privilege”).
• Unhealthy aesthetics, like poetic suffering or the romanticization of mental conditions.

3 Tips to romanticize your life healthily

Rychel, the kindest counselor, who reviewed this article, recommended these tips to help romanticize your life healthily:

1. Prioritize self-care. Life romanticization shouldn’t come at the cost of your quality of life. Aim for a healthy lifestyle first: balanced nutrition, healthy sleep, and physical activities.
2. Listen to your inner voice. Life romanticization should be authentic, and intuition will tell you whether what you do is just for aesthetics. Read more on how to strengthen your intuition.
3. Get into therapy. Visiting a therapist helped me to realize that events from my past hold back the authentic version of me. I highly recommend resolving deeper emotional issues first before romanticizing your life.

Is romanticizing your life just an aesthetic, or does it actually work?

Both.

I personally don’t like to view romanticization of life as an aesthetic. With a certain aesthetic, there are certain expectations.

If the romanticization of life must imply a certain aesthetic, I’d prefer this one: the “un-aesthetic” aesthetic with all the messiness of life and imperfectionism. But also with accepting that everything in your life is worthy of love.

There hasn’t been a study that would estimate the effectiveness of life romanticization yet. However, the separate elements like mindfulness, cognitive reframing, and gratitude all have scientifically backed benefits:

• CBT techniques reduce symptoms of depression by 20-30% [2] Sarca, M., Cojocaru, A., Dumache, R., Bernad, B. C., Nussbaum, L. A., Costea, I., Anghel, T., & Hogea, L. The Effects of Mindfulness Techniques on Anxiety, Depression, and Stress, with an Emphasis on Gratitude: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Healthcare (Basel). 2026. .
• Being grateful increases life satisfaction by 7%.
• Gratitude also reduces anxiety by 8% [3] Kyeong, S., Kim, J., Kim, D. J., Kim, H. E., & Kim, J. Effects of gratitude meditation on neural network functional connectivity and brain-heart coupling. Scientific Reports. 2017. .
• Mindfulness makes you more self-aware.

Final remarks

The skeptics don’t believe romanticizing works because “What is there to romanticize in a collapsing world?” Valid. 

The world might indeed disappoint. Does it mean that we should be helpless victims? Or is it better to realize that we have sway over our own lives? Is it better to take responsibility for our own lives and use them to be happy? I like the second option more, thanks.

We all need a little whimsy. What’s the harm in loving your life the way it already is?

Sources (accessed April 2026):

1. Jaggi, S. K., & Gupta, D. J. Chronically busy, chronically unhealthy? Understanding the time poverty and health interplay through systematic review synthesis. Cogent Social Sciences. 2025.
2. Sarca, M., Cojocaru, A., Dumache, R., Bernad, B. C., Nussbaum, L. A., Costea, I., Anghel, T., & Hogea, L. The Effects of Mindfulness Techniques on Anxiety, Depression, and Stress, with an Emphasis on Gratitude: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Healthcare (Basel). 2026.
3. Kyeong, S., Kim, J., Kim, D. J., Kim, H. E., & Kim, J. Effects of gratitude meditation on neural network functional connectivity and brain-heart coupling. Scientific Reports. 2017.