As I sit down to write, I’m drinking a cup of coffee, listening to my favorite playlist, and wearing a cozy outfit I love. It’s Sunday, my favorite day of the week, and I’m pretending to be the main character at this café. I’m grateful that it’s the weekend, it’s the perfect amount of chilly outside, and that I have a writing assignment to work on. As I sink into the cafe chair, I’m romanticizing my life. 

“It’s Sunday, my favorite day of the week, and I’m pretending to be the main character at this café.”

On social media, the hashtag #romanticizeyourlife shows thousands of posts of people drinking lattes, reading in the park, toasting with friends, and more. A viral Instagram Reel sound captures the idea perfectly: “You’ll never regret romanticizing your life. Take the smallest moments and make them into something beautiful.” 

To me, romanticizing my life is the act of paying attention, being present, and acknowledging and appreciating the small, simple — but when put all together, important — parts of my life. It’s not an aesthetic, but rather a shift in perspective, a way of looking at life that makes it more enjoyable. It’s a form of mindfulness that helps us to look at life with gratitude. 

“It’s about not waiting around for the big, grand moments in your life and those milestones to be able to genuinely enjoy things, because the reality is, our lives are not filled with exponentially incredible things every single day,” says Salt Lake City-based Ashley Kipps, a content creator on TikTok and Instagram. Her outdoorsy and cottagecore content focuses on slow living and romanticizing life. 

“It’s not an aesthetic, but rather a shift in perspective, a way of looking at life that makes it more enjoyable.”

“I just really try to find joy in everyday life and make those mundane tasks, or responsibilities that are just essential needs of being a human, and try to make them fun and engaging,” she says.

We only get one life, and oftentimes, we have to do things we don’t want to do. It’s not glamorous or romantic — but who says we can’t make it so? How do we shift from simply going about our days to romanticizing our lives? It’s all about that shift in perspective. We can either let life happen to us or empower ourselves to make it into something beautiful. 

How to Romanticize Your Life

1. Start with things you’re already doing. 

“We should be taking inventory of the things that we’re already doing and how we can make them more pleasant and how we can be more intentional,” Kipps says. “It doesn’t have to be a whole production.” 

What do you already do throughout your day where you can add in something to make it more fun? Maybe sit down with a notebook and pen and write out daily activities that you have to do. Some examples are doing the dishes, making your bed, cooking dinner, mopping the floor, going grocery shopping, or driving to work. 

“We should be taking inventory of the things that we’re already doing and how we can make them more pleasant…”

– Ashley Kipps, content creator

2. Make those things more enjoyable, whatever that looks like to you.

I romanticize doing the dishes by putting on an upbeat playlist and dancing while I do it. By the time I’m done, I completely forget that I didn’t want to do it in the first place, and my mood is better than it was before, because I was dancing and having fun. 

If music makes tasks more enjoyable for you, maybe try making playlists for different activities or moods. Or perhaps you like creating ambiance while you do daily activities. Kipps loves lighting a candle while eating dinner some nights to make it feel more special — dinner becomes “a candlelit dinner” with one simple change and a shift in the way you look at it. There are infinite ways you can try to find what makes you feel alive and excited throughout your day. “There’s no wrong way to do it,” Kipps says. “It’s for you, and it’s to improve your quality of life.” 

3. Notice and appreciate all the moments that feel joyous, however simple. 

At the end of the day, the biggest thing you can do to romanticize your life is to notice and appreciate the things that make you feel alive. When your meal tastes delicious, savor it. When you have a great conversation with a friend, be present and take it in. Bask in your favorite things when you get to experience them, and let yourself make the day-to-day tasks more fun. 

“The biggest thing you can do to romanticize your life is to notice and appreciate the things that make you feel alive.”

Romanticizing your life doesn’t require buying new things or changing your whole routine. It’s simply a way to look around and be grateful, to play and find pleasure, to experience life through a lens of gratitude that you get to live another day in your life, and to let it be lovely.

Brianna Schubert is a writer and editor living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When she’s not writing about books, lifestyle, and culture, you can find her cooking up a new recipe, reading and recommending books, or finding hidden gems at vintage and thrift stores. Say hi on Instagram!