In an era that has seen the indomitable rise of the rom-com and the seemingly unavoidable cultural phenomenon that is Love Island, for those of us who find ourselves without significant others, the prospect of a summer with no one to cuddle may be quite terrifying. But fear not, the whole “Summer of Love” thing is so 1960s, let this be the “Summer of Self-Love” (no not that kind of self-love). Don’t believe me? Well just after reading through these 5 tips on how to be okay with being alone when you’re single, you may just never want another boyfriend again.
A survey by UK researchers showed that 62% of respondents gained 14 pounds or more after beginning a relationship, while 50% of respondents listed “eating out” or “watching TV” as their primary bonding activity. Take advantage of your new found freedom and go and try out new activities that you wouldn’t otherwise get to experience. Whether its going to the cinema alone to see that new Mamma Mia! 2 film that your ex would never agree to going to, trying that Lebanese restaurant down the road that your former flame always shunned in favour of the same old fish and chips every Friday or finally getting round to trying SoulCycle, anything is better than the sofa being your primary hobby. The more you get out and stay active, the more you will understand how to be okay with being alone!
It’s an age old story: boy meets girl, boy meets girl’s friends, boy doesn’t like girl’s friends and over time boy manages to convince girl that a night at the pub watching the football with his mates should be considered a “fun” night of couple bonding. Do you remember the days of unabashed, reckless fun with your girl friends, where all you had to worry about was outfit clashes, posting the same clinking glasses boomerang on Instagram and not waking up in the bed of the ugly guy who got kind of hot from secondary school? Being in a relationship denies you to really invest yourselves in your friendships and make the mistakes that will form the stories that you and the ladies will look back upon gleefully in years to come. Oh and family, they’re important too.
No, not boyfriends, boy, friends, as in friends who are male, the kind that your ex always had a problem with and slowly forced you to remove from your life because he was too immature to understand that a girl and boy can have a platonic friendship. One very underrated advantage of the single life is that you can be friends with whoever you want, and that includes members of the opposite gender- how very 21st century!.
Remember the days of travelling to Barcelona for what you hoped would be a wonderful couples holiday filled with beaches, rooftop bars and romantic vistas, but that ended up consisting of endless football stadium, trips to pubs and sex museums “for the bants”? Well those days are over because now you can go where you want, when you want. You can now pack your bags and head off to the mountains of Iceland, a Caribbean cruise or finally take that trip to Bali you always wanted on a whim because there’s no one else’s feelings (or wallet) to take into account when picking this summer’s holiday hotspot. Even little weekend trips will help you understand how to be okay with being alone! Sometimes it’s nice to have time for yourself!
Perhaps the most overlooked advantage of the single life is the way it will transform your experiences in the bedroom, and not in the way you’d think. No more fighting for mattress space or wrestling for blankets, the whole bed is now yours. Yes, cuddling is nice, but do you know what’s nicer? A good night sleep free of snoring, farting and his five alarms he has set because he’s too lazy to just get up when he needs to. Oh, and not to mention you now get ALL the wardrobe space.
And there you have it, 5 reasons to not just survive being alone, but truly make the most of single life for what it is: a period of freedom in which you really can do whatever the hell you want. Relationships are hard and require a lot of effort and sacrifices to work long term, so make sure you really enjoy your time with yourself, because how many of your friends in relationships have you heard say “I wish I was still single”?
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