I, like you, have never had a first "love," or first kiss. I've never had a significant other. By my age, people assume that I would have had my first kiss and my first significant other, and a couple of other ones after that. At 21, it seems like everyone has had that experience. For those of us who have not had those experiences, we appear strange, or weird, and people can't comprehend exactly why it is that those "rites of passage" of our teenage years have not hit us yet. It's taken me a while, years in fact, but I've become OK with it, and I hope that those of you feeling this right now learn to be OK with it too. I've learned to be OK being alone and single; it's made me a stronger and better person. Would I like to have those experiences? Sure, at some point in my life, but I'm not going to rush into them just because it seems like everyone else has had them long ago, and I advise all folks in this position to avoid that too. If they happen, they happen. Something important to remember is that we're all on different paths in life, and comparing ourselves to the life path of someone else does nothing in terms of improving our positions in our own, so we should just roll with it.
It's taken me a long time to become comfortable with my position is an outlier, and I know it will take you all some time as well. I see myself as a strong, independent, intelligent woman who loves people and has a passion for helping others. I desire to make a change in the world, and I know that I can do anything I set my mind to, and so can you. You and I do not need an "other half" to be happy and live life, but that doesn't mean that if someone comes along in the future that we can't enjoy them pushing us to be the better versions of ourselves each day. If I am an outlier because I've put so much time into working on making myself a better person, I can live with that, and I hope that after some self-reflection, which we all should engage in as part of our self-care routines, you can see that you are an amazing, incredible, unique individual with various awesome passions and talents and interests, that you are worthy of love: love from those who make up your support system, love from the kindness of strangers, love from yourself. Remember: not having had a significant other is not a signal that you do not deserve "love," but that you are taking the first important steps of learning how to love yourself, and that is one of the most powerful forms of love of all.
