"So, when are you going to settle down with someone nice?" "Why don't you have a boyfriend?" "You're such a catch, where's the one who caught you?"
These questions have been asked more than once at some function my parents forced me to go to. After questions about how college is going, the ultimate question is where is my significant other that I met in Bracken? HE ISN'T THERE.
Why is it that people expect girls to have boyfriends the minute they step onto the college campus in August? And in some people's eyes, it's kind of failure that we don't get a boyfriend to share our college years with. So here is an adequate answer to all those questions pesky people have asked you:
I am not looking.
That is really all you need to say. If they ask for an explanation? Say that these are four years that you'll never get to experience again. You are allowed to be the most selfish person ever because you are here defining yourself. Sure, you may have a great support system here but you are learning to navigate yourself through the first stage of adulthood. You structure your days the way you want them to be. Whether that means you go to your 8 A.M or spend the whole day watching Gossip Girls on Netflix. You are your own boss, no Mom and Dad telling you what to do.
So, if you want to be single, BE SINGLE. And make sure that the investigators in the circle of people you know get the hint. Yeah, a boyfriend would be nice. But right now, you aren't searching for the perfect, tall boy to whisk you away to meet his parents in some other state. You are ready to go out and be with your girlfriends who bring out the best in you, and remind you of how much fun you had the night before.
These moments make you happy with the life you are creating for yourself. You can defend yourself in situations that may not be the best, but you have grown up enough to deal with them. You can fix a leaking sink by yourself because you had no other option than to be the one to put on the tool belt. Being single isn't a bad thing, it makes for quite an interesting beginning of your chapter into adulthood.
And when one guy comes along to sweep you off of your feet and make you feel some type of way, you are comfortable in knowing who you are and what you stand for. You are ready to grow more with someone by your side after you have done all the nitty gritty work of becoming a better version of yourself.
So the next time someone asks you about why you don't have a boyfriend, say: the single life is treating you too well at the moment. The boyfriend will come soon, but for right now? You're doing you.
