Growing up, we're taught dependancy. We leaned on our parents and friends, and are on a constant scavenger hunt for the perfect life partner to fulfill all of our hopes and dreams. The problem with this is another person cannot teach us how to be happy; the only person capable of doing so is ourself.

Being with a partner may bring temporary happiness or new adventures that make us feel joy, but we can never truly be content until our happiness depends only on ourself. Above all, we must be content with aloneness.

Aloneness is much different than feeling lonely.

Aloneness is looking in the mirror and loving what we see because we have sculpted and shaped our body.

Aloneness is driving down a busy highway and singing at the top of our lungs and laughing at our cracked voice because singing makes us feel free.

Aloneness wears a brown coat and reads the books in old bookstores without ever buying them.

Aloneness is the best date to a coffee shop, writing lost words on scrap paper, and watching the people around us with the realization that they are living just as hectic of a life as we are.

Aloneness is thinking of our flaws as quirks and putting them all together to form a unique appreciation of ourself.

It is hard to learn. Aloneness knocks on the door when we are three or four, and we push it away to find comfort in cuddles and fairy tales. It can be found in many cracks and crevices throughout the years, but until we search for it, it will not show its face.

No matter where life takes us, aloneness will always be on our side. When our first love falls through the cracks, or we lose someone close to us, or we fail an exam, or we cannot fathom lasting one more day, aloneness will be with us.

Be its friend. Grab aloneness by the hand and never let it go, because it will be there in all of life's moments. Aloneness will show us all that you are capable of. It will push our limits and make us run so far outside our comfort zone that there is no hope in going back. It will point out every flaw in our being and make us better them. Aloneness will make us ask questions we do not want answers to, and search deeper into our purpose. Aloneness is a friend of God, and will ask the same of us.

Aloneness is demanding and kind at the same time. It will show us more depth and more beauty than we ever thought possible.

Stop looking for happiness in the pages of magazines, in right swipes, in alcohol, in overcrowded rooms with people who are not really there. Happiness has already found us--we just have to look for the brown coat.