There is a pretty offensive stigma against single people in our society. For some reason, others assume that it is not one’s own choice, but rather various external factors that have, to their misfortune, forced them to be single. It is rarely assumed that a single person simply prefers being independent, or has no interest in sharing their life with someone else.

People often take it upon themselves to set single friends up with each other. But if you are dedicated to the single life, then this is a proclamation to all of those friends that have been "wifed" up for too long and simply do not understand. Here are some signs that you are totally happy being single.

1. You aren’t bitter or jealous when you see a happy couple.

2. The holidays are not occasions to fall into deep depressions offset by loneliness.

3. Telling someone that you just want to be friends isn’t a curve, it’s a fact.

4. You watch romantic comedies because you genuinely enjoy them, not because they remind you of what you’re missing in your life.

5. If you go to the gym it’s to feel better about yourself, not so that boys will like you more.

6. When you go home and your family asks you if you’re in a relationship, you calmly respond no, instead of coming up with an elaborate lie.

7. When your friends in relationships invite you to go out, you don’t decline because you’ll be “third-wheeling,” you hang out with them anyway because you are friends, and that is what friends do, hang out.

8. You are comfortable doing things by yourself — watching a movie, eating, shopping, etc.

9. You don’t linger on your past relationships and what went wrong because you understand that you’re happier without them than you were with them.

10. You don’t feel like you’re missing out on something in your life.