Stay Single Because It’s Less Stressful That Way

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It’s stressful to wait for a text back all night long. To keep your phone next to your pillow with the sound on high, so you’ll hear it even if you doze off. To stay up later than you should, just so you can talk to someone who ignored you throughout the entire day.

It’s stressful to scroll through social media when you know that at any second, a post could pop up that makes your heart drop. A picture of your crush with another person or a change in their relationship status. Something that ruins your entire day in an instant.

It’s stressful to figure out where the line is drawn. To decide what you’re allowed to say to them and what would make you sound too desperate. To determine how close you should get to them before you’re in danger of scaring them away.

It’s stressful to plan out your outfit, trying to pick the perfect cut and color to impress them. To waste your time beautifying yourself, even though you might not even run into them that day and all of your hard work will be for nothing.

It’s stressful to second-guess yourself before posting selfies to Snapchat and Instagram. To scroll down your page through their eyes, trying to guess what they would think if they ever looked through it. To try to impress them, even when they probably aren’t paying any attention to you.

It’s stressful to pull your car into a parking space and text the other person to see if they’re there yet. To wait minutes, maybe even hours, for them to show their face when you were kind enough to get there on time.

It’s stressful to spend every spare second you have replaying conversations in your head, trying to figure out what they were thinking when they saw you. Trying to figure out whether they feel the same way about you or if they’re only stringing you along until they get bored.

It’s stressful to fall for someone. To flirt with them in person and over the phone. To put in enough effort to keep them interested but not enough to suffocate them. To try to convince them you’re someone worthy of calling their person.

That’s why you should stay single until you find someone who refuses to play dating games. Someone who tells you how they feel about you from the start. Someone who won’t make dating feel more difficult than it has to be.

Even once you find someone like that, there will still be stressful moments, sure. They are impossible to avoid completely.

So stay single until you find someone who makes all of the bullshit you have to go through worth it. Someone who you’re willing to waste hours on, as long as you end up with them in the end.

Stay single until you find someone you honestly believe deserves your time and effort and energy. Because dating isn’t easy. It sucks.

It’s only worth it if you find the right person.

Holly Riordan is the author of
Severe(d), A Creepy Poetry Collection.
Pre-order your copy here.