Session 412: How to Spend Time Alone
Therapy for Black Girls
iHeartPodcasts and Joy Harden Bradford, Ph.D.
4.8 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2025
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
These days, we talk a lot about community, and for good reason. But it’s important to remember that spending time alone is just as important. So what does it actually look like to enjoy your own company? Alone time isn’t just about being by yourself, it’s about slowing down, reconnecting, and noticing what comes up when you’re not in constant dialogue with the world around you. And although for some it may be uncomfortable and a little anxiety-inducing, when done with intention it can be incredibly rewarding. That’s why today I’m excited to discuss how making space for solitude in our busy lives can help us feel more at home in ourselves.
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About the Podcast
The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible |
| 0:22.2 | versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in |
| 0:28.8 | Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website |
| 0:35.7 | at Therapy for Blackgirls.com. |
| 0:38.6 | While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a |
| 0:44.5 | substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional. |
| 0:56.8 | Hey, y'all. |
| 1:00.7 | Thanks so much for joining us for session 412 of the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. |
| 1:02.1 | We'll get right into our episode after a word from our sponsors. |
| 1:10.4 | You're listening to an I-Heart podcast. |
| 1:16.2 | So when was the last time you took yourself on a solo date? |
| 1:24.2 | Maybe you got dressed up and went to a fancy restaurant, |
| 1:28.9 | or maybe you just threw on some sweats and saw your third viewing of sinners. Either way, completely valid. But if it has been a while |
| 1:36.4 | or if you have been a little anxious or leery about taking yourself on a solo date, I hope that |
| 1:42.4 | this episode will be the nudge you need to push you across |
| 1:45.8 | that line and encourage you to go ahead and do the thing. So there are some experiences that I think |
| 1:51.8 | we just need to have in life that teach us lots of things. One of them is traveling abroad. |
| 1:57.0 | So sometimes I will get asked like, oh, is there something in your life that you would do over? |
| 2:01.1 | The fact that I did not travel abroad as an undergrad is one thing I would do over. |
| 2:06.2 | So traveling abroad is one. |
| 2:07.9 | But the other thing that I think is really important in terms of developing good life skills is learning to do things by ourselves. |
| 2:15.5 | And this is for a couple of reasons. |
... |
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