Being Single in a Relationship-Obsessed Culture

Everyone keeps saying, you have to love yourself to love someone else, and yet they’ll judge you or assume that something is ‘wrong’ with you for staying single too long.

This makes me wonder: is singlehood a choice, or just a waiting period until life gets ‘real’?

You’ll keep hearing wait for the right person, and then get judged for actually waiting instead of jumping into something you know won’t work out.

The media constantly pushes a narrative while pretending to preach something else. The inevitable ‘happily ever after’ never includes a woman being just successful. It’s always about romantic getaways, over-the-top proposals, and social media PDA, suggesting that success equals relationship plus career.

I’ve witnessed people (and myself) fall for this trap, the idea that your life will always be incomplete without romance.

This internal dilemma is triggered by the constant noise around us, and we’re forced to ask ourselves: Are we enjoying this freedom? Or just suppressing our loneliness?

I’m not here to hand you a single-girl anthem, but to give you a peek into the actual reality. It’s not perfect, but it’s still enough.

Most of the time, you’ll enjoy your freedom and feel powerful because of your ability to be alone and content. Other times, you’ll feel left behind in an invisible race where no one really wins, but at least they’re a part of it.

The truth is, most of us aren’t afraid of being alone. We’re afraid of being judged for being alone.

I’ve seen friends jump from one relationship to another without a second thought, drama always being the center of their lives. And I’ve wondered: Is life supposed to be as boring as mine is?

But when I made bad decisions, got into situations that took me a year to recover from, and lost my sense of ambition and purpose, I realized I wasn’t living a boring life. I was living a peaceful one, until FOMO got the best of me.

I’m not here to start a cult and chant embrace singlehood!

Maybe singlehood isn’t a pause or a rebellion. Maybe it’s just… life.
And that is enough.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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