Dear Single People Everywhere: The New Rule Is, There Are No Rules

Being single isn’t something to fear, like an unopened bill or a browning avocado. It’s mostly about loving yourself and letting yourself know you’re never truly alone—even if your relationship status says otherwise. To celebrate the joys of the single life, we’ve teamed up with Bumble to show you just how awesome being single can be.

Ieva Urenceva
Ieva Urenceva

Welcome to 2017, when being single doesn’t mean you’re a social misfit! If anything, your single status indicates that you’re dedicated to personal growth—to figuring out exactly who you are before coupling up for the long haul.

You’re incredible just the way you are, and you deserve this time to celebrate “you” above all. So do what makes you happy, whether that means sitting around eating tacos all day or taking a last minute road trip with your girlfriends. Spend your weekend nights taking too many shots with friends, or stay home with a bottle of Pellegrino and a cleansing face mask instead.

This is your life and your life only, so do whatever you want!

Forget all the silly dating rules: what it means to be “talking” to someone, when you’re “allowed” to hook up, or how long you’re supposed to wait before you text someone back. Forget all the rules about singledom, too—when it comes to building your life, there are no rules.

This is the time for you to become the happiest, most fulfilled version of yourself. The single life is about saying “screw it” and doing it for the story. It’s about never having FOMO because you know you’re not actually missing out on anything worthwhile. It’s about double-texting without shame and whiling away an afternoon on a dating app simply because you’re curious.

Being single is about taking yourself and your needs seriously. It’s about realizing you have the right to decline an invitation without explanation and cut the toxic people out of your life once and for all. It’s about trusting you have the agency to make yourself happy.

Being single isn’t about experiencing some major transformation or chasing the approval of others; it’s about realizing you always have, and always will, be an amazing human capable of accomplishing anything.

Live by your own rules instead of following some dated guidelines about how you’re “supposed” to live.Thought Catalog Logo Mark