I have no idea why, but for most of my pre-teen and teenage life, I was convinced that being in a relationship would be one of the most important goals for my future. I've always wanted a typical suburban life where I live in my nice house with my big yard, a husband by my side and a few rugrats running about. So logically, being in a long term relationship was a stepping stone to getting to that goal.

So when I finally started dating my now ex-boyfriend, I almost felt relieved. I was finally in a serious relationship that was exactly what I was seeing in the movies. He would buy me flowers and we would go explore Philly, he'd be there when I needed a shoulder to cry on and helped me move into my apartment. He met my family and I met his. Everything was finally settling into place.

Two years later, things ended (kind of dramatically) and then I fell into this thought-hole of "What am I supposed to do now?". I had spent most of my college life with this man that was such a big part of me. Not going to lie, there were a few months where I really thought I was going to live and die alone. This all happened over the summer so coming into my last year of college was nerve-wracking. I was now set on this journey of truly finding myself.

Fast forward to almost a year after my break up, I have never been more happy in my entire life. I surrounded myself with great people, I'm finally living with a roommate who is my best friend, I put my heart and mind into my school work and my job. I spent the weekends I would normally spend with him going out with my friends to the mall or the movies. I spent the nights he would normally come over with my roommate making fajitas and watching RomComs. I went out to events and I danced more than I ever have. I'm having fun and I'm so genuinely excited for life.

So here's the advice I have for you:

There is no need for you to feel pressured into being in a relationship now that you're in college. Yes, you're an adult now doing big things but a partner doesn't necessarily need to be a part of that.

Yes, there are tons of people around you that are going to be in relationships and no matter how much you deny it to yourself, it's going to bother you to some degree. Those feelings are totally fine. It doesn't mean that you hate the people in the relationship and that you're a bad person, you just wish you had what they did.

Please don't let that influence your life. Don't wallow for days or weeks about how single you are. Live your life! Go out and do things that you never would have experienced before. Be with your friends and just hang out. Learn to do something you never knew how to.

Work on yourself as a person above anything else.

When the time is right, love will find you.