I vowed to enter college single, and despite some tiny bumps in the road, I was able to do so happily and freely. A fresh start was what I wanted—a chance to understand myself and learn to truly embrace who I was before even considering looking for someone else to do the same. As funny and embarrassing as that little stretch of time is to look back on, I think that this little period of my life was one of the most formative. So, here's me unleashing my inner Carrie Bradshaw, and telling you everything I learned while I was single that has helped me way more than I ever would have expected in my current relationship.

I think that first and foremost, being single taught me to love myself, something that's cliche but true. Not understanding who you are and what you want out of a relationship is a widespread flaw that can be the seed to ending entire relationships. There are people who become the person their partner wants them to be or someone they believe to be perfect for the person they're with. Gaining a loving relationship should never mean losing who you are, and that's something that takes knowing who you are and what you can bring to a relationship, strengths and weaknesses alike. Facing the truth about your own the character, the good and the bad, and learning to embrace those aspects of yourself, means you'll never lose yourself in who you're with. Whether my relationship continues or ends, I'm glad to say I'll remain who I am because I went into it knowing who I am, and I'm comfortable enough to remain 100% myself as our relationship progresses.

Another important thing I learned from being single is to stop seeking out the "perfect partner." I think we all fantasize of the perfect partner, someone who loves everything we do or does everything just the way we want them to. The truth is, nobody is perfect, and a relationship can never be a perfectly in-sync, harmonious thing at all times. Worse than that, we can sometimes conjure up in our heads an image of the perfect partner as a person who we can find and be with, and so we let ourselves turn down perfectly good people or let ourselves get into horrible relationships based on those images. I'm not saying don't have standards because I'm probably one of the pickiest people I know, but don't have down the exact qualities you're looking for in a partner down to a tee. My boyfriend isn't perfect at everything or in every aspect of his character, and this isn't something that does or ever should surprise me. That your partner has flaws and can't read you perfectly is part of human nature. So, throw out that image of your perfect Mr./Mrs. Right, and just look for someone you click with.

A piece of advice I've heard so many times, given to myself and other people, is that it's better to be in single than in a miserable relationship. There's always been some kind of stigma against being single, whether it be the "old maids," of the past or the offhand, classic, "But you're too ____ to be single," comment, people seem to associate being single with loneliness or isolation. But the truth is, being single is a wonderful learning and growing experience a person can have in their formative years.

Now that I've been in my current relationship for a year, I've realized how hard relationships can be. There are arguments, misunderstandings, compromises, and a whole lot of accepting each other for who we are. However, I think we can both agree that our relationship would be nowhere near as successful without the things we learned on our own before we decided to be together. So, appreciate singledom, not because a relationship is a ball or chain or required, but because of how much it will help you grow as an individual and within any of your possible future relationships.