Living the Single Life

[Cory]

If one were to never be in a relationship their whole life, what benefits would they have over being in a relationship? I know I cannot see the future or know what it holds for me, but I see myself being single for most of the entirety of my life just because I'm somewhat paranoid about relationships and I'm not much of a social person. Do you think you have a different outlook in life when you're single as opposed to when you're in a relationship? For those that are in a relationship, why do you feel you are in one? Never being in a relationship, I suppose I don't know what to expect out of one if it were to ever happen. Can one be successful in living a single life? Sorry for all the questions and the oddity of the topic at hand, I'm just curious what I should expect out of life if I plan to be single for a long time or eternity.

[Kyng]

Since some previous threads on this theme (e.g. "Do you prefer being single or being in a relationship?") have gone into "Health and Lifestyle", I think it makes sense for this to be with them, so I'll put it there now .

Anyway, I do think there are some benefits to the single life, such as:

• Having complete control over your own time and money (instead of having to spend it on your partner, who will want to do things with you that you won't necessarily enjoy). This can mean spending more time on your hobbies; more time on your friendships; or spending your time and money on travelling the world (although you'd have to do it either alone or with a non-romantic partner );
  
  
• No chance of relationship drama;
  
  
• Clarity of mind. When I first got into a relationship, I found that I thought about my partner way too much, and started making decisions that were completely irrational ;

Of course, there are benefits to being in a relationship too, so I'm certainly not saying that being single is 'better': it's just a different way of being. But it certainly has its perks .

[Pyrite]

As someone who has only ever been single, I personally don't mind it as much now as I used to. I find that it gives me more time to do things, and gives me more independence in the things I choose to do. I am quite serious about my hobby (ballroom dancing), which I only took up because I was getting down about being rejected by another girl and wanted to do something I'd always thought about doing rather than try to find someone who didn't exist right now to have a relationship with. What ensued was that I found something I'm really passionate about and a group of friends who I absolutely love.

Right now, I don't really have much of a desire for a relationship. It'd be nice at some point, but I just don't think I'd fit it into my busy life at the moment. And that's okay. I really want to have children in the future, which kind of necessitates getting married, but I'm cool with flying solo for now.

[Cory]

Thanks for the responses, y'all! Glad to hear there are perks to being single that I may be overlooking at times. Absolute freedom to do what you want to do and be where you want to be at all times is probably one of the biggest perks and the financial benefits that come along with it. I've rarely if ever been in debt due to my state of being single, so I do think that can help you save up money to do what you want with it, or if you ever plan on getting into a relationship you'll have plenty of money saved up to do things together.

Of course, there are cons to being single too, the biggest one being loneliness, especially if you're like me and don't have many friends. But as long as you keep yourself busy doing things you enjoy you can generally feel less lonely. Not always an easy thing for me to do on my days off where I have most of the day to myself, but I always manage to find something to occupy most of my time with.

I too use to overthink about being single, but sometimes it grows on me and becomes something I just accept as part of who I am. You can only be rejected so much before it drives you insane. I think I may find a special someone someday, but I try not to have high hopes due to my lack of commitment and how depressed I can get about being rejected/heartbroken.