Some things are treated as socially awkward for no good reason, and it may be time we stopped judging people for them.
Dining alone
Going out to eat by yourself often brings on pitying glances or the mistaken idea that you’re lonely. However, eating alone can be a freeing way to enjoy dining.
When you eat alone, you can be right on time or 20 minutes late- whatever you want. You can order whatever you please and not have to compromise on menu items. You don’t have to talk to anyone, which means you can eat at your own pace and enjoy your food. So solo meals can feel like a quiet sanctuary.
Open money talks
Talking openly about salaries, monthly budgets and daily money stress is not exactly encouraged. Most of the time, silence helps your boss, not you.
It prevents you from knowing how stressed you should be about money and what others are making. If we normalize talking about money, it’ll help us stop feeling embarrassed about budgeting. It can also stop people from living beyond their means to appear high-class.
Delayed messaging response
Immediate digital gratification is forcing us into exhausting lives full of interruptions and stress. Waiting to respond to texts, emails and DMs that aren’t urgent is not rude or ignoring someone.
Slow down your life. Take your time back. Enjoy long stretches of focused time, have healthier deep-work patterns, and less anxiety. You’ll find you don’t need to be hyper-available 24/7 to be connected.
Alternative life paths
When you decide not to settle down, get married, buy a house in the suburbs, and have kids, you will often receive pitying comments and judgment.
Happiness and success look different for everyone.
By not settling down, you free up your time to work on projects you’re passionate about, being artistic, or being with friends without strings attached. Support people in making these decisions, and you open up more diversity in life.
Owning knowledge gaps
Whether you’re in a high-pressure work environment or just chatting among friends, there is tremendous pressure to feign knowledge on every subject so as not to seem foolish or incompetent. “I don’t know, but I’ll look it up” is the epitome of true intellectual honesty, humility, and confidence.
Acknowledging you don’t know something gives others permission to learn alongside you, ends worrying cycles of misinformation spreading from overconfident individuals, and will gain you infinitely more respect than acting like you know something when you don’t.
Early departures
If you leave a social event before the very end, you may face friendly guilt-tripping, party pooper jokes or awkward pleas for you to stick around.
Everyone has their limits when it comes to socializing, and figuring out when you’ve had enough is crucial for self-preservation. Excusing yourself without fanfare or saying your goodbyes early allows you to be present with your friends while you were there and avoid burning yourself out.
Outfit repeating
It’s ridiculous how the fast fashion industry and hyper-visible nature of social media have fostered this unspoken rule that one should never be seen wearing the same thing twice.
Wearing your favorite clothes multiple times is something to be praised. It’s logical, limits wardrobe decision stress, and is kind to your wallet and the environment. Invest in timeless pieces and wear them until they wear out.
Midday napping
A short afternoon nap is often stigmatized as being lazy or undisciplined in productivity-driven societies. However, napping has been proven to help replenish mental energy, increase emotional strength, and improve your ability to solve complex problems much more effectively than that afternoon coffee kick.
Making time for regular power-down periods during the day helps us begin to emphasize productive work and lasting health.
Changing mindsets
Often, changing your mind about political, cultural or personal beliefs is mocked as flip-flopping or lacking willpower. However, changing your beliefs when confronted with new information, perspectives, or experience is actually what strong critical thinking and emotional intelligence is all about.
Appreciating people who have the courage to change their minds allows for more civil discourse and guards us from becoming dogmatic.
Unexplained refusals
So often, we feel pressured to cook up an elaborate excuse or a tall tale just to turn down a social offer when we’re feeling drained.
It should be enough to say, “Thanks for inviting me, but I can’t attend,” without having to elaborate. Accepting a gracious decline validates truthfulness, reduces unnecessary social drama, and allows people to respect everyone’s right to manage their own schedule.
Publicizing mistakes
Social media is full of highlight reels: everyone posting about promotions at work, amazing vacations, reaching goals effortlessly. But when you share your experiences with failed ventures, applications getting shot down, or personal failures, it helps to de-tox the perfectionist culture.
Posting about real-life setbacks humanizes the chaotic journey and is more beneficial and useful than some shiny milestone list.
Sabbaticals and gap years
A career gap, whether it be to rest and recharge, care for loved ones, travel the world, or pursue your passions, has often been looked down upon by recruiters and employers.
Working non-stop is usually unnatural and nearly impossible over the course of a career that can span decades. Career gaps should be seen as positive moments of reflection, growth, and rest we take to avoid extreme burnout.
Multigenerational living
Living with family as an adult has been stigmatized in Western culture as some sort of failure. However, living at home is a practical and financially savvy choice that allows people to save money faster, fight feelings of loneliness in cities and build stronger family relationships.
It’s time we stop stigmatizing living with our parents and start embracing multi-generational living as it benefits everyone and is consistent with how humans have lived throughout the majority of history. It’s also a great solution to the affordable housing crisis.
Routine mental maintenance
We continue to approach therapy like it’s an urgent care option only to be used during intense emotional distress or trauma. Scheduling routine appointments with a therapist to work on your mental health, manage stress, and increase mindfulness should be as casually accepted as scheduling a day at the gym or dentist.
By normalizing mental health care as a preventative practice, we can address smaller issues before they lead to full blown panic attacks.
Unfriending without drama
Breaking up with a friend or allowing a social bond to wither away can feel like the worst kind of failure or like engaging in an act of war. Friends grow apart, things change and some bonds were only meant to last so long.
Withdrawing from a friend that no longer enriches your life in a positive way should be considered drifting amiably apart, rather than somehow losing and moving on without feelings of remorse.
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11 normal 1950s social practices that would be unacceptable now
If you crack open a few etiquette manuals from the 1950s, you’ll find an endless list of rules people were supposed to live by; many are weird, antiquated, or offensive by today’s standards.
11 normal 1950s social practices that would be unacceptable now
