Dear friends,

Being single is frustrating, I know. I love you, and I believe you have every right to be loved by the man of your dreams, but please, stop trying so hard to find him.

It's so easy to look at men as potential boyfriends, but boyfriends aren't everything. By focusing so hard on relationships, you are missing the friendships around you. I know, because I am guilty of the same thing.

There is nothing wrong with showing interest in a guy, but do so on a better basis than "he's cute". Honey, looks are nice, but sadly, they don't exhibit the personality.

We live in a society that puts pressure on relationships at such young ages. The idea is that if you are getting attention from boys, then you are winning at life. Attention from boys. Boys aren't men, and they aren't going to treat you like men would.

Ladies, it is so easy to get involved emotionally, and by chasing relationships, its so easy to get hurt. As you approach a guy with the relationship mindset, you have no idea what he is thinking. While you see his communication as interest, he might see it as just friendship.

As a girl, its not uncommon to have to reject guys. I'm not saying its easy: from my experience, it kinda sucks. Because you're a girl, however, it is deemed "OK" to deny a boy. Your friends congratulate you for sticking up for yourself, and you move on.

For guys, its so much harder. Now, I know I'm not a guy, but from what I've seen on the girls' end of things, I wouldn't want to be a guy denying a girl.

Take this as an example: You start a conversation with a guy on snapchat, and he responds. As this repeats for a few weeks, you begin to think that this means he's interested and start getting excited about the prospect of a relationship.

But he isn't.

Finally, he realizes what happens and sends you that "I like you, but not like that" message. You tell your friends, they confirm that its his fault for leading you on, and all of the sudden this guy is exiled from your squad.

Lets go back to the beginning. Who started the conversation? Who kept initiating? Who felt pressured to keep the snap streak going? It wasn't him.

I have seen this happen to so many of my friends, because they've seen a cute guy so they must automatically try to get with him. In the end, they always end up hurt, and the poor guy always ends up hated by the girl's friends when he did nothing wrong.

In order for a relationship to be mutually happy and healthy, there has to initiative on both ends. So please, I beg you, don't see what you want to in those messages. Stop chasing the boys just for the prospect of a relationship. You are missing out on all the friendships around you.

Love,

The Friend Who's Tired Of Keeping Quiet