Whether it’s a temporary state or a life choice, singledom has some undeniable benefits.
If you’re single and starting to feel serious pressure to settle down and enter romantic hibernation, don’t fret: although being coupled up definitely has its perks, there are still plenty of good reasons to stay single, too. Particularly if everyone around you is paired off, it’s normal to feel under pressure to find a partner to cuddle up with (and drag to boring family parties) during the winter holiday season. But just because ~everyone else is doing it~ doesn’t mean you should feel the need to jump in to a relationship if you’re content being solo.
“If you’re happy, then there’s no reason to push yourself to be in a relationship just because society expects it,” Kali Rogers, Founder of Blush Online Life Coaching
I’m convinced most people in long-term relationships are secretly miserable. Sure, it’s nice to have a partner to cuddle with, but relationships can also be terribly inconvenient. If you don’t believe me, consider these surprising benefits of being single:
1. You Haven’t Found The Right Person
If you’re tempted to settle for someone meh (or even someone straight up bad for you), just remember that no relationship is always better than a bad relationship — so staying single might be the wisest decision.
2. You Need To Work On Yourself
If you want a healthy partnership, it’s worth your while to sort out your own issues beforeentering a relationship. It might sound cheesy, but the whole “you have to love yourself before someone else can love you” cliché is pretty accurate. Choosing to stay single until you’re happy on your own shows real maturity, and will lead you to a stronger, healthier relationship down the road.
3. You Prefer To Manage Your Money Solo
Although not every long-term couple chooses to combine their finance, if you’re hesitant to enter a serious relationship because you want to keep your money management totally to yourself, that’s OK. If you’re a serious couple, you’d most likely eventually take on each other’s debts and expenses — which not everyone wants to do. Plus, if you aren’t dating, you save money on things like dinner dates and anniversary gifts.
4. You Want To Get To Know Yourself
If you tend to hop from one long-term relationship to the next, it can be really helpful to take some time to be single to really get to know as an individual instead of one-half of a couple. It doesn’t matter whether you use the time to build relationships with friends and family, explore new hobbies, or travel the world being single and working on your relationship with yourselfwill really help you grow.
5. You Don’t Want To Get Hurt
Relationships have the potential to bring us lots of love and happiness, but when you open up emotionally to someone, it also opens the door to be hurt or betrayed by your partner one day. If you can’t stand the thought of being cheated on or lied to, it might be better to remain single until you’re ready for the emotional vulnerability relationships require.
6. You can travel on a whim.
How do you think a romantic partner would react if you woke up and decided to move overseas, go backpacking through mountains in Iceland, or take a cruise to a tropical destination? They probably wouldn’t be happy if you didn’t include them in that decision (and rightfully so!).
Single people, however, have the freedom to travel without hesitation. If you’re a vagabond at heart, then singlehood might be for you.
7. You can flirt without fear.
Let’s face it: everyone flirts sometimes, whether they are single or not. This flirting is usually innocent in nature, but it could nonetheless lead to an awkward situation if a single person ends up developing feelings for somebody who is romantically involved.
Add an insecure partner to the mix and this awkward situation could quickly turn into a terrible confrontation. If you love to flirt, then singlehood might be for you.
8. You can save tons of time.
It’s fun to send flirty texts back and forth, but can you imagine how much time the typical couple spends on their phones?
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Bottom of FormA lot of people get anxious without constant communication, so those texts and phone calls might add up to a loss of several hours per day. Of course, you could just choose a partner who is more independent, but finding such a creature could be a difficult task.
If you would rather invest your time in a more productive fashion, then singlehood might be for you.
9. You can sleep in peace and quiet.
Confession: I really, really, REALLY miss cuddling. I’ve been single for a while, and love it for the most part…but the absence of physical touch has driven me a bit crazy (maybe I should start collecting applications for a cuddle buddy?).
That brings us to the point: even though it’s nice to snuggle, I have a VERY difficult time sleeping next to another person (especially if they snore!). If you know that feeling, then singlehood might be for you.
10. You can stay in touch with friends.
“Don’t you worry; we’ll stay in touch!” Those words should sound familiar if you have friends who have gotten married and/or had children.
How many of them actually kept their word? Not many, I bet.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise since these major life decisions require the sacrifice of free time and personal freedom. It’s hard to find the time to do much when you have a spouse and child to consider. If you aren’t ready for such a commitment, then singlehood might be for you.
11. You can avoid settling for a bad match.
Almost 30% of marriages in the world are destined for failure. You have to wonder how many of those still married stay together due to religious beliefs, financial reasons, or the sake of their children.
To complete this grim picture, add in how easy it is to settle for a bad match when you’re feeling lonely. If you’re not 100% sure what you expect from a partner, then singlehood might be for you.