Throughout my teenage years, I think it’s pretty safe to say that I have almost always had a boy by my side. For some reason, all throughout my high school years, I somewhat subconsciously believed that I needed to have a boyfriend to be happy. Because of this, I never really learned how to be happy being single. I always felt the need to be texting a boy -- whether it be in the early getting-to-know-you stage, the bitter end stage, or the happy honeymoon period -- and more importantly, I never really felt comfortable going out to eat alone (I just feel like this is a big thing because it’s actually really fun and shows so organically that one is comfortable with being alone in public… props to these types of people, keep doing you). This trend and mindset of being taken even continued into my first semester of college, and only now, months after my first college break up, am I realizing that I am actually a lot happier single. It was a tough transition and I almost believe that my mind didn’t want me to accept this realization, but I am so glad I did.
I have come to question why society associates being single with such strong negative connotations. I believe my late teen years and early twenties are when I should be single and trying to find out who I am as a person by myself, as cliché (though so true) as it sounds. I have always found that being in a relationship is a fun and (usually) worthwhile adventure, but in the end, you either get married to the person or you break up (and I don’t know about you but I'm not ready for marriage, so at this point it is always going to end with a break up, and break ups really are quite taxing). I have come to the realization that I should not go looking for a new relationship just to feel loved or cared about after the previous one goes to shit. Instead, I should just reconnect and revisit more directly the relationships in my life that already (and have always) possessed a presence of love and care. (I’m not going to tell you to love yourself either because Justin Bieber has already covered that base and, frankly, I think the idea is cute, but quite overused anyways.)
