Society has come a long way in terms of what is expected of women in relationships. It’s no longer expected for us women to be married, barefoot and pregnant with Jimmy Jr. by the time we are 20 years old (although, being from the south, this is a point frequently argued). As I have gotten older, the question of, “Who are you dating now?” has become more frequent and the looks more heartbroken as I gladly tell them no one; as if it is Mrs. Smith’s business, just because my grandmother used to cut her great aunt’s hair. (It’s a southern thing; sorry if that made no sense to you.) The thing is, I just feel that until I find the perfect guy for me, I’m better off alone, and I think that that’s OK.

Here’s why.

22 is still really young.

Don’t get me wrong—when it comes down to it, I am southern to the core. The idea of getting married at 30 and having my first kid even later than that is what nightmares are made of for me. I love the idea of getting married young enough to still have “fun." I want to be a fun young mom and have time to have lots of kids. My mom had me at 23 years old and never once questioned swimming, camping, concerts and road trips with my friends and me. My friends thought she was the coolest mom ever because their moms that were 10 or more years older were just not about it. I aspire to be a young, fun mom like that. With that being said, I have a good way to go until 30 years old, with a lot of "me time" to fill the void.

Guys at my age are the worst.

No, I do not want to “Netflix and chill” at your house, and no, I am certainly not going to “bust a loop” with you at midnight. I am not really sure what happened to the males of my generation, but to be honest, they are terrible. Yes, I realize there are guys reading this right now thinking, “Oh my gosh, not all guys are like this,” and congratulations—maybe you aren’t totally fooling yourself and you are the exception to literally all I see in the college dating pool right now. Props to you, and I will take it all back when I am actually asked out on a real date.

For whatever reason, guys now think that a date means we have to be exclusive and that the girl is about to get clingy fast. All of this is incredibly overwhelming to me, and I’d just rather avoid it altogether until there is a guy who looks and me and thinks, “Wow, she seems awesome; I want to be seen with her in public and get to know her better.”

I am still figuring out who I am.

I am an adventure junkie. A travel nut. Wanderlust is a sickness that I cannot seem to shake. I love being able to go wherever I want, whenever I want. This weekend I am going rock climbing. What am I doing next weekend? Why, I am going to see friends who live a few hours away and who I haven’t seen since summer. I have tickets to two music festivals just in the month of May and plan to canoe the Buffalo River with a group of friends the last week of May as well.

In the middle of it all, I work in order to pay for all of my adventures because I like to pretend that I am a responsible almost-adult. (I’m not, but I like to pretend.) Yes, I realize that I could do all of these things with a boyfriend, but the thing is, I do not want to. How do you do all of the things that your heart desires and still make time to make a relationship work? Easy answer: You can’t. I have learned too much about myself and the world around me to let it all go just yet. The more I learn, the hungrier I am for knowledge.

I’m still a little weird.

I’m not going to lie—I have always been a little weird, and I doubt that it’s something I'll lose altogether. As college is coming to a close for me, I realize that soon I won’t be able to do some of the fun and crazy things that I tend to do often. I’ll have to have a natural hair color, I’ll lose the nose ring and I’ll wear a minimal amount of jewelry while teaching the developing minds of our future adolescents. I have been asked many times about my purple hair and what it must mean for my dating life:

“You must not want to boyfriend. No guy is going to take a purple-haired girl home to his mother.”

Um, yes sir, I am aware. God forbid my life doesn't revolve around finding a boy to take me home to mommy.

One of my sorority sisters broke my heart by saying, “I wish I had the confidence to dye my hair like that; what if boys didn’t talk to me anymore?” I answered her by saying, “Any boy who does not care what I have to offer him or society as a whole simply because of the color of my hair, is no boy that I need in my life.” This is not an aspect of myself that I am willing to let go of for a guy. Not yet.

This may have been a long ramble, but it has a purpose. Do not date just because you think that you should. Do not feel under pressure just because half of your Facebook feed is engagement and pregnancy announcements. Some people are lucky and find the love of their lives at an early age, and that’s awesome, but you are not a sad and sorry excuse for a human being just because you are in your 20s and still single.

Go on adventures, even if that just means a mini road trip with your girlfriends. Travel, even if it’s just to see a friend that you miss who went to a different college. And my personal favorite: Be yourself and find out who you are, set apart from someone else. In a society dominated by social media, it’s easy to get lost.

Be weird, try new things and check everything off your list before you fall in love and get married. Do not settle for the f*ck boy just because you are lonely, or because you think that he will change (he won’t). Do not let yourself believe that there is something wrong with you because you don’t have anyone to call your own at the moment. Find yourself. Love yourself. Until we do these things and truly love ourselves, I honestly don’t see how we can expect to be fully loved by someone else. Until the right one comes along, you are better off alone.