Again, I begin this post with a confession. I must confess that for a (self proclaimed) dating guru, I spend a lot of my weekends sitting home with nothing to do. I want you to know that I am being perfectly honest when I tell you that I feel the pain of every single Single girl in Rexburg. I am one of them. But I still think I give pretty decent dating advice, hence the blog. But this time I’m gonna share with you all some of the things I really enjoy about living life as a young single adult in Rexburg. And I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. Being single can actually be a lot of fun if you do it right.
All of us will have times in our lives when we don’t have a significant other. For some of us those times may be long lasting, and for some we can’t go a week without someone blowing up our phone begging us to date them. For the former (because how many of us are really the latter?) I want to help you realize that a life lived single, for no matter what the length of time, can be just as much fun, if not more, than being with someone.
Whenever I’m lamenting my life lived as a young single adult the person I most likely end up lamenting to is my mom. My mom was a lot like other young women in the church in the fact that she married young and didn’t really get to experience a lot of life as a young single adult. But she is different in the fact that she is a divorcee. My mom had the opportunity not many young women have, of going back and reliving her single days. She was in her late 20’s when she was divorced and she has told me time and again that when she finally embraced life as a single woman the whole world opened up it’s opportunities to her. She got to spend time with her friends and date lots of interesting guys, and she didn’t let being in a relationship bother her like so many other women her age. My mom was happy being single and she has told me she wouldn’t trade it for the world.
I’ve already mentioned in this blog how I wish the Rexburg world would stop obsessing over whether or not someone is married or in a relationship. I even took my relationship status off of Facebook because I didn’t want the stress of staring at the “single” every time I opened my page. It was like a load had been lifted off my shoulders and now I don’t even worry about it. I like being single. I like living my life only having to worry about me. I have good friends, female and male. I get good grades (for the most part). I attend my church services and make every effort I can to fulfill my calling. I have a loving family who are supportive of their daughter and have never once asked me why I’m not married yet. And when I do get asked that question I don’t feel compelled to give excuses or apologize for my lack of commitment. I politely tell the asker that I will get married in the Lord’s time, and for the time being I am enjoying my life as a young single adult.
Now understand, I am not knocking marriage. I am a firm believer in the institution, both legally and religiously, of marriage. I know that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and in my own due time I will enter into that covenant. But I fully intend to have some fun in the meantime!
This is how our lives should be. At this point in our existence the world is an open playground. There are so many opportunities open to us that would be null and void if we weren’t single. I can pick up and drive to Utah for a weekend without asking anyone’s permission. In fact I don’t really even have to tell anyone (well, I would tell my roomies but they wouldn’t tell me I couldn’t go). I can go study cooking in Italy for a semester and the only thing I have to worry about is how I’m going to pay for it. I am free, and that is exactly how we should see it.
Being single is not a trial in life meant to tie you down and make you miserable. Being single is not something we just need to grin and bear until we finally get that ring on our finger. I believe that being young and single is a blessing and something that should be savored, not endured. We should be thanking our Father in Heaven for giving us this time in our lives to get to know ourselves and who we are before we give our lives to another for eternity. I intend to take full advantage of it.
So the next time someone asks, “Hey, why aren’t you married yet?” You can respond with, “I like being young and single and so far no ones offered anything better.”
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