In this issue:

• Secrets to living a singularly sensational life

• The trip you've been putting off

• Cooking for one, done right

• Finding like-minded people

• The pastimes worth doing just for you

• Challenge: pick an indulgence for the upcoming week

Striking out on your own

There's a serenity I discovered as a young, divorced mother years ago — a calm that quietly arrived when I realized I had far more control over my time than I had imagined. It was time I could use to rebuild my life around my daughter first and then my needs, which I had overlooked. And it was a chance to rediscover the quiet spaces I had once overlooked and fill them with meaning.

I also learned to celebrate solitude by how I structure my day. Long walks with a captivating novel playing in my earbuds. Preparing a guest-worthy meal for myself, with the table set with my good dinnerware. Playing pickleball and meeting new friends. Traveling to New York to indulge in a little shopping and catch up with old friends. I'm also lucky to have my family nearby and an active social circle.

Some of us may long for the "we"; others charted this course intentionally, and some arrived here by circumstance, with an adjustment that wasn't easy. Wherever you're starting from, this issue is for you.

— Pam Miller, Editor-in-Chief

TRAVEL

The trip you've been putting off

Solo travel often gets filed under "someday," usually because it feels like it needs a plan, a companion, or the confidence you haven't quite built yet. None of those are actually required. 

The key is to plan a trip with enough built-in structure so you're never staring down an entire day with little to lean on. Here are a few ideas that reward the solo traveler, with no waiting on anyone else's calendar:

Begin closer to home and travel to a nearby city for the weekend to see a special exhibit, sporting event, or performance. Or visit a friend in another part of the country and build in time to explore on your own.

A river cruise. Many lines now waive the costly single supplement on select sailings, and the built-in social structure (communal dining, shore excursions, a bar that knows your name by day two) means you're never actually alone unless you want to be.

A stay at a national park lodge, off-season, with a stack of books and no itinerary beyond "see what's outside today." The Old Faithful Inn, Zion Lodge, and the Ahwahnee at Yosemite accommodate solo travelers beautifully.

A weeklong cooking class in Italy or France. These trips center on a shared table and a shared skill, which means instant company at every meal without a single awkward icebreaker.

A scenic train route — the Rocky Mountaineer, the California Zephyr, or a European rail pass — where the "activity" is simply watching the world change outside your window, uninterrupted by anyone wanting to talk it through. 

The instinct isn't misplaced, either. A 2025 review of the psychology of solo travel found that these travelers consistently report high life satisfaction and low loneliness, even during extended stretches of alone time — particularly when that solitude is chosen and balanced with some social contact along the way, which is exactly what a river cruise or cooking class provides built in.

Suggested reading:

The Joys of Traveling Alone

All Aboard the Good Life Express

A Return to the B&B

Safe Travels

FOOD

Cooking for one, done right

Cooking for one gets a bad reputation it doesn't deserve,  usually because it's treated as a scaled-down version of cooking for a crowd. Done right, it's actually the easiest way to eat exactly what you want, exactly how you like it, every night.

Buy good ingredients, in the right quantities. A beautiful piece of fresh fish, real parmesan, the good olive oil — solo cooking is where small, high-quality purchases go furthest, because there's no one to split the good stuff with. 

Learn how to plate your meal so it is as appealing to the eye as it is to your appetite.

Cook once, eat with intention twice. Roast a whole chicken on Sunday, and you've got dinner, a next-day salad, and stock simmering by Tuesday — without ever feeling like you're eating "leftovers."

Invest in the right-sized tools. A small cast-iron skillet, a single-serving gratin dish, and a proper little saucepan — cooking for one in oversized pots is part of what makes it feel like a chore. The right tools make it feel like cooking for someone who matters, because it is.

Set the table. Cloth napkin, the good plate, a glass of wine. The meal tastes different when it's treated as an occasion rather than a task.

Prepare a great entree that freezes well. I’ll buy a pot roast or short ribs, with the intention of freezing the leftovers in individual servings so a satisfying meal is always ready when I want it. Soups, stews, and chilis also work well here.

Suggested reading:

Simple Plating Tips for Home Cooks

Top Tips for Cooking for One

Clean Cookware for People Who Actually Cook

You've probably seen Made In Cookware® by now. Used in 4,000+ professional kitchens and trusted by millions of home cooks, they also offer one of the largest PFAS-free cookware collections available.

Shop Clean Cookware

CONNECTION

Finding like-minded people 

Independence and isolation are not the same thing, and one of the best-kept secrets of solo living is how much built-in company is available to those pursuing it — you just have to know where to look.

Researchers draw a clear line between the two. Solitude researcher Thuy-vy Nguyen, who runs a dedicated lab on the subject at Durham University, and her collaborator Netta Weinstein have spent years showing that solitude — time alone by choice — is nothing like loneliness, which is really about a mismatch between the connection you want and the connection you have. The goal isn't to avoid solitude. It's to make sure the connection side of the ledger is covered on your own terms, too.

Solo-specific travel companies like Overseas Adventure Travel and Road Scholar are designed from the ground up for single travelers, with no supplement fees and itineraries built around group connection.

A standing class, not a one-off. A weekly pottery studio, a wine education course, a language class that meets the same night every week — recurring structure builds real acquaintances over time in a way single events rarely do.

Walking groups and hiking clubs, many organized specifically for retirees and empty nesters, offer built-in company for an activity often assumed to be solitary.

Supper clubs for solo diners have grown in most cities — communal tables are set up to introduce people dining alone to one another, with no dating-app energy involved.

A regular seat at a regular place. The bartender, the barista, the person who always sits two stools down at your Thursday spot — familiar faces in a regular rotation build a quieter kind of company that adds up over months.

You don't need to transform your personality to become more outgoing. It simply involves choosing environments where you see the same friendly faces more often.

LEISURE

The pastimes worth doing just for you

Some hobbies are best shared. These are not those. A few pastimes are genuinely better solo — no compromise in pace, no one to entertain, nothing to explain:

• Birdwatching, a hobby that rewards patience and silence in ways group activities rarely do.

• Learning an instrument you've always meant to, at your own pace, with no one in the next room judging your scales.

• Genealogy research, an entire afternoon spent disappearing into records and names,.

• Enjoying a long solo hike, set at exactly your pace, with stops whenever you want.

• Creative activities, like painting, pottery, or any craft with your hands, done in solitude.

• Taking an online language course to brush up your skills or learn something new.

DESIGNING YOUR BEST LIFE

Challenge: pick an indulgence for the upcoming week

Pick one trip, one meal, or one pastime from this issue and put a real date on the calendar — not "someday," but an actual day. The life you're building for yourself deserves the same commitment you'd give anyone else's plans.

_{The content provided here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before making any changes to your health routine, and never disregard professional medical advice based on information you read here.}

^{Tapestry occasionally uses AI tools like Claude for background research, structuring outlines, and brainstorming. Every edition is fully written, fact-checked, and verified by a human.}