Read that title again. For all the heterosexual women out there, ever said that phrase to yourself before? I sure have, especially being a girl in college where the guys aren't exactly at their highest maturity level yet.

Up until recently, I was a firm believer in girls (especially my young adult age) being independent of guys. The empowerment of women is a huge concept that I have learned throughout school, whether it be through women gaining the right to vote or women taking a stand for equal pay in the workforce. However, an area where this concept has come up recently for me is in relationships in college. Let's be honest, in general (and I say in general because very few trends are rarely ever absolute) guys in college aren't here to fall in love and commit to a relationship. Now don't get me wrong, I am by no means saying that that is what I expect of/want from them. It's college, not Match.com. However, for the girls like me who are not at the other end of the spectrum either (having one-night-stands and flirting with random guys), it gets a little tiring when your heart gets played with so frequently.

Again, I am not saying that other guys and other girls can't do that. It is just not my particular cup of tea. That is why I am very upfront about the way I am. I figure that if I am vocal about me not wanting to just be some hookup, guys will get the message and not pursue me any further. Well, I figured wrong. That information seems to go through one ear and right out the other, and guys wind up leading you on and you get your heart broken in the end.

That has happened several times to me throughout college so far (and I am sure it has happened to plenty of other girls as well). That is why I decided to take a stand for myself at a point during this year and say no more immature boys. I told myself that I don't need a man to be happy and that I am a strong independent woman. I was ready, excited, and relieved to leave boys behind and focus on myself.

Of course, as soon as that happened, I met a guy who is now my current boyfriend. Plot twist, right? Long story short, we met through a mutual friend, he asked to hang out, and I was extremely reluctant because I thought I knew how it was going to end (i.e. like how all of the others did). But, I was actually pleasantly surprised. We hung out, talked, and hung out some more. After weeks of spending every spare second with each other, it came to the point where it turned into something more, so we took the next step and are now in a relationship. And I am the happiest I have been in a while.

Now you may be thinking, "Kayleigh, what happened to the empowerment of women?! What happened to 'I don't need no man!'?" Before you think I am a traitor against all women, I would like to point out that I still firmly believe women are completely independent and do not need a man to be able to function. We're perfectly capable of riding solo, and there is nothing wrong with that.

However, through my newfound relationship, I have discovered that while you don't need a man, there is nothing wrong with having one. I like to think of it more as not having a man, but having something that you were missing. I was happy before I met my Chris (my boyfriend). But being with him has brought me to a different, more intense kind of happy. It sounds cheesy, but it is now a complete happiness. Having someone like that brings you so much joy, takes so much stress away, and adds so much love to your life that it brings yourself a new level of happiness that can't really be described until you experience it.

So girls, what I am trying to say here is not that you have to have a man in your life to be happy. I am saying that it is unnecessary to have the ideology that not having a man is the only way that you are strong and independent. We are strong and independent regardless, having that other person in your life (from my experience at least) simply adds, even more, strength and happiness.