This is an article that I have wanted to write for a long time but have been too scared to. The main reason for this being that society has taught me to be ashamed of this particular facet of my life and it wasn’t until recently that I truly began to own it. The fact of the matter is I am 24 and have never been kissed. That’s right, I am a genuine lip-virgin.

To be clear, this isn’t something that I brag about, in fact, it’s not something that I really like to bring up in conversation. My motivation for writing about it is the thought that I am not alone and that maybe there is someone out there who might benefit from reading this.

We are taught at a very young age that is a kiss is something to be desired. Every Disney princess got to kiss her prince charming and every knight who rescued the damsel in distress was rewarded with her love. Then we move on to middle school and high school where you are the odd man out if you don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend. From then on it’s the same never-ending cycle: the pressure to be in a relationship and the stress of not being in one. I used to cop-out and blame my strict private-school upbringing for my lack of kissing, and while I do believe that it had something to do with it, I can’t say that it was the only factor at play.

Honestly, when I look back on my life so far, there is no one that I really wanted to kiss. Sure there were guys who I thought I wanted to kiss, but all of the boys who I ever thought that I was in love with turned out to be jerks and losers, and a the end of the day I am so glad that I didn’t waste my time on them. But somehow society and media has this way of making us feel that we are weird or pathetic if we have not lived according to the timeline that they have drawn up for us.

As I said, until recently, I was embarrassed of the fact that I have never been in a "real" relationship or that I still have yet to have my first kiss. But these days it's something that I don't shy away from. I embrace the fact that I still have that moment to look forward to when I meet the person who will eventually change everything. I don't look back on my time being single as wasted time, but rather time that I didn't waste on jerks.

Forgetting the particulars, I suppose the main point of this article is this: don't ever let society or an individual make you feel bad about yourself because you haven't followed the same path as everyone else. There is something to be said for the individual who goes against the current. And it's also important to remember that sometimes the things that we are most afraid to share with others are the things that make others find us extraordinary.

So, yes, at the end of the day I have never been kissed. It's not a big deal- it will happen one day. Right now I just look at is as being one of the things that makes me who I am.