I’m in a relationship with myself — quitting dating apps helped me find the confidence to live my dream

A woman who claims to be in love with herself can hardly Bali-eve how good life is now that she’s given up finding love online.

Mimi Watt, 29, deleted her preferred dating app, Hinge, in January this year after realizing she wants to focus on her relationship — with herself.

“I felt like spending time swiping on Hinge and doing all that was dividing my focus in a way that didn’t feel good anymore,” she told South West News Service.

Before going offline, Watt had had no trouble finding matches. “The apps were great at one point, I was dating a handful of people,” she recalled. “Some lasted a month, some lasted a few months.”

After a breakup in the beginning of 2023, Watt felt increasingly drained by the app. “I wanted to experiment and completely switch off mentally and physically from Hinge and pour that energy back into myself,” she said.

Since then, the single from Sydney, Australia has been able to resign from two jobs and focus on her flourishing solo venture as a lifestyle and relationship coach.

She also decided to pick up and move 3,000 miles to Bali.

“The results have been drastic, I really put that down to taking that initial break from looking outside of myself for pleasure or fulfilment and redirecting that back to myself,” Watt declared.

“In previous years I didn’t have the sense of self worth and the confidence I have now and that impacted my relationships,” she explained. Now, she’s attracting all sorts of “interesting” people without trying.

“In the past year I feel more secure with myself and know my self worth,” she added. And without a “romantic interest” to lift her up with affection and reassurance, she realized she’d have to do that herself.

“It has forced me to dive deeper into myself and ask how I can make those needs myself,” said Watt. “Through doing that, it has given me the sense of security.”

Amid her quest for self-love, Watt’s roommate asked her to move out.

“I was at the point where I needed somewhere else to live, I was talking to a good friend of mine at work,” Watt recalled “She said that I should go and live somewhere else for a while as I will never be as free as I am in life right now.”

That’s when she set her sights on the Indonesian island.

“The timing was really spot on, I found that my business was taking off and if I was having to move out I might as well go to Bali.”

Living on her own terms, Watt now feels like she’s only meeting people with greater potential. “I feel like people who are more naturally aligned to me, my values and interests flocked to me,” she explained.

“I started attracting those people,” Watt gushed. “I was in my natural state where I was doing those things that I enjoy.”