1. Whenever you develop feelings for someone, you refuse to admit it. You tell your friends and your parents that the person means nothing to you — but the pretending doesn’t stop there. You even lie to yourself about how strongly you feel.
2. Whenever someone asks you out, you turn them down. You don’t even consider accepting the offer. You reject them without a second thought, because you aren’t looking for a relationship right now.
3. You keep making up excuses about how you’re too busy to date. How you need to focus on work. How you’re happier on your own. But, deep down, you know that’s all they are — excuses.
4. You ignore texts. Even though you feel lonely, you don’t respond to all of the messages in your inbox. You just leave them there.
5. You’re sick of being disappointed. You don’t want to deal with heartbreak, so you try your hardest to avoid falling for anyone. You don’t want to get your hopes up again.
6. You isolate yourself. You don’t go to parties. You don’t call up your friends when you’re bored. You stay home. Alone. Because life is easier without other people around to complicate things.
7. You’re okay with the idea of a one-night stand or a friend with benefits. Sex doesn’t scare you. Serious relationships scare you.
8. You never tell the people closest to you how you feel. Your mom and dad rarely even hear the words, “I love you.” You’re entirely uncomfortable expressing emotion.
9. You also get uncomfortable when people actually treat you right. You have a hard time accepting compliments and an even harder time having a conversation with a great guy that really seems to like you.
10. You ruin relationships on purpose. You lie or cheat or ignore someone that really cares about you in order to sabotage things. To see if they’ll stick around. And, of course, they always leave, because they don’t appreciate being treated like shit.
11. You have a funny way of showing affection. You flirt with sarcastic comments and nasty remarks, but not everyone understands that you’re trying to be playful. Some people take it at face value and assume that you hate them.
12. You don’t like to be touched. It doesn’t matter if someone tries to give you a hug or brush a piece of your hair back. You aren’t into it. You get freaked out when people get physically (and emotionally) close to you.
13. You always end up sitting at home, miserable, because you turned down opportunities that could have been fun. You see the Instagram photos of your friends partying and the relationship status of the boy that used to like you and wonder what would have happened if you made a different choice. A braver choice. 
