STAY SINGLE

By Quinn Lee

Yourtime in university is finite. It seems like everyone nowadays is in a relationship, or at least trying to be. I feel like half of my friends are running around with their significant others while the other half are trying to get cuffed. I figure you have your whole life to be “boo’d up,” so what’s the rush?

I am rounding up my last semester of university and every time I think about it for too long I want to throw up. Being a student in a university town is a unique, short-lived experience where you live down the street from your friends that I will surely miss.

While I am dreading leaving Western University to enter the “real world,” I will look back on my four years here fondly. Since entering university as a nervous freshman, I’ve transformed into a confident and independent woman, all on my own. And the independence I’ve gained here is probably the greatest gift I’ve received.

Don’t get me wrong — being in a relationship can be great, but it also takes hard work to maintain a strong, healthy one with your partner. Sometimes it’s hard enough for me to have that same healthy relationship with myself.

Right now, as a single young woman, I am not prioritizing a relationship. Your university years are a time for self-discovery.

I think university is just the start of finding yourself and the people you want to surround yourself with. Sometimes being in a relationship can hinder that when toxicity comes into play. After the next “love of your life” breaks your heart, who’s going to be there for you? Yourself and your friends.

You may be asking what my credentials are to tell you to be or not to be in a relationship, and I have none. What I can tell you is that I have been a happy, single girl for over a year now.

We all have our ups and downs, and sometimes I do miss the comfort of knowing someone is always there to support you. But one of the greatest things I’ve learned over the past year is finding that support within yourself is really gratifying. I am more independent than I’ve ever been and I’ve learned a lot of great things about myself. But sometimes going through things on your own is hard, and so I learned to lean into the people around me.

I learned how to recharge by myself, and in times I felt alone, I turned to others in my life that loved me in a different way. Sometimes in a relationship, it can get easy to be sucked into a universe of two. So I’m not eager to find someone right now — I have myself and a few others I want along for the ride, and that’s enough for me.

I’m not saying I will be completely anti-relationship forever. We have our entire lives to be committed. Why start at a time where we’re encouraged to explore, be curious and discover what we actually want out of life?

If a new relationship happened to fall into my lap I wouldn’t run, but right now I don’t feel any need to love anybody else as much as I’m starting to love myself.