piatok 20. mája 2011

Random Rant #1: Being Single

Today, someone asked me, “When are you going to get a boyfriend?” I could write up a list of the reasons this question irritated the hell out of me. And if I knew that person well enough to give them my honest reply, I would have.

Why do people automatically assume anyone single is in desperate need of terminating this status? Someone should yank those rose tinted goggles off their eyes. Heaven forbid a single person could actually be happy being single rather than sit home and wallow in their un-relationship induced depression.

Some people mistakenly assume that only those in relationships can be happy. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t happiness achieved with much more difficulty if you have happiness of someone else in your hands as well as your own?

So yeah, instead of skimpily weaving my way through alcohol induced party goers to snatch someone up, I’d rather go do work experience in a magazine or go out with my friends to have coffee. Perhaps have fun at a rock concert.

The idea of my future isn’t built upon slapping the shackles of marriage on a man and settling down with the house with picket fence and 2.5 children screaming my ears off. Instead I’d like to realize my own dreams, so I’d trade the hunt for a boyfriend for spending the night at home working on a novel any day of the week.

Sure it would be nice to share things with someone, but I resent the assumption I should have to. In my eyes, the social norm divides single women into two categories:
1) A woman is single just because she’s in between relationships and is desperate to rectify this asap.
2) She is a workaholic, ice-hearted bitch and her only goal is to climb up the success ladder.

The stigma of labeling and the social presumptions are something that makes me scoff unlike anything else. Am I single? Yes. Does that make me either of those two things? No. It just means I like the freedom of being on my own. Did I make anyone gasp at this startling revelation? I hope not.

If I happen to meet someone that matches my world views and interests, that’s great. I wouldn’t say no to such a fine specimen. If not, I’m not going to cry about it and put my best female friend as my ‘fiancée’ on Facebook just because I’m too insecure to admit I’m single. That sure is my personal pet peeve.

Do you agree or disagree? Let me know.