Romanticising Your Life – (Whether You’re Coupled Up or Not)

Romanticising your life has nothing to do with waiting for someone else to make it beautiful. It’s a mindset. A quiet decision to treat the everyday as worthy of care, intention and a little bit of magic whether you’re sharing your space with a partner or living gloriously solo.

At its core, romanticising your life is about elevating the ordinary. 

It’s lighting a beautiful candle you have been savouring on a random Tuesday...not because anyone’s coming over, but because you are, and life is too short for that candle to be gathering dust in the cupboard. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Voluspa Candles (that stunning sustainable, clean candle brand from LA). Their candles, although pricey, are the kind that instantly make a room feel layered and thoughtful. One flick of a match and suddenly your living room feels like a Parisian apartment at golden hour. Scents have memory after all, and creating a home that smells beautiful is one of the simplest ways to make everyday life feel intentional.

Rituals are where the romance really lives...Morning coffee poured into a proper cup and sitting down preferably outside in the fresh air/nature to enjoy it.  An evening skincare routine done slowly, with relaxing music on and your phone nowhere to be seen.  Even something as simple as opening the windows, making the bed properly and letting the light flood the room can completely shift your mood.

These small habits become anchors…tiny moments of care that say, this life matters.

Music plays a huge role too. Curated Spotify playlists have become a form of modern self expression. Classic jazz while cooking dinner, old-school French café vibes on a Sunday morning, soulful instrumentals while getting dressed and classical symphonies whilst relaxing in the bath for example.  Soundtracks shape how moments feel and choosing music intentionally turns mundane tasks into aesthetic cinematic scenes. Suddenly, you’re not just making dinner – you’re starring in a beautifully edited montage of your own life.

Then there’s getting dressed. Romanticising your life doesn’t mean dressing up for anyone else; it means dressing for the mood you want to inhabit.  Putting together a great outfit, even if you’re just running errands or working from home, is a powerful form of self-respect.  Silk trousers, instead of joggers.  A blazer thrown over a simple tee.  Jewellery worn ‘just because’. Equally…the idea that beautiful things need to be saved for special occasions and ‘good wear’ needs to be abandoned.  That dress you’ve been saving to wear to somewhere special – wear it to lunch, to the supermarket, to a random Monday that needs lifting.  Life is happening now, not at some undefined future moment when everything feels worthy enough.

The same goes for the expensive designer handbag sitting carefully stored in its dust bag. It wasn’t meant to live on a shelf. Carry it while doing your weekly food shop.  Let it sit in the trolley seat next to your flowers (which you are also buying for yourself on the regular to romanticize your life!) and oat milk. There’s something quietly powerful about using beautiful things in everyday settings – it reframes luxury as enjoyment rather than preservation.

The idea of intentional living applies whether you’re in a relationship or not. If you’re coupled, it’s about creating shared rituals – lighting candles at dinner, putting phones away and being present with each other, choosing music together. If you’re single, it’s about building a life that feels full, rich and visually pleasing on its own. Romance doesn’t disappear when you’re alone, it simply becomes more self-directed.

Ultimately, romanticising your life is about presence.  About slowing down enough to notice the beauty you’ve already created.  It’s choosing softness in a world that rushes.  It’s making your everyday feel curated, thoughtful and deeply personal because the most important relationship you’ll ever have is the one you have with your own life…and that deserves to feel beautiful.

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Irene Feeney Steele is a a fashion writer and content creator. Follow @irenesteelestyle for more.