You shouldn’t shut everyone out because you feel like you’re better off staying single forever than putting yourself out there. You shouldn’t raise your walls without any intention to let them down again. You shouldn’t convince yourself dating is too dangerous and is always going to end with you getting hurt. You shouldn’t tell yourself you are better off alone.
With that being said, you really are better off alone if the alternative is dating someone who doesn’t respect you, who doesn’t pay enough attention to you, who spends more time tapping on their phone than engaged in conversation with you.
You’re better off alone than dating someone who sprinkles every conversation with little white lies, who dances around questions they don’t want to answer, who places the blame on everyone except themselves to avoid getting in trouble.
You’re better off alone than dating someone who makes you feel unconfident and insecure, someone who causes you to break out in waterworks, someone who brings more stress and drama to your universe than happiness and comfort.
You’re better off alone than dating someone you cannot trust, someone who you’re seriously worried is going to leave you out of the blue or cheat behind your back or shatter your heart, leaving you broken.
You’re better off alone than dating someone who undermines your feelings, who never takes your problems seriously, who thinks you’re too emotional for your own good.
You’re better off alone than dating someone who slacks on their responsibilities, who makes excuses to act lazy, who expects you to carry the weight of the relationship while he sits around doing nothing.
You’re better off alone than dating someone who turns everything into a competition, who tries to one-up you whenever you’re upset, who believes they’re always in the right and has never done anything wrong.
You’re better off alone than dating someone whose jealousy gets in the way of their happiness for you, who never celebrates your accomplishments alongside you, who secretly hopes you’ll fail so they can feel better about their own lives.
You’re better off alone than dating someone immature, who throws temper tantrums whenever they don’t get their way, who makes you feel like you’re more of a babysitter than a girlfriend.
You’re better off alone than dating someone who is shallow and obsessed with sex, who only wants you for your body, who gets annoyed with you around that time of the month, who always expects you to do favors in the bedroom without giving you anything in return.
You’re better off alone than dating someone who talks down to you, who curses you out, who slams doors and tosses dishes whenever you get into the tiniest argument.
You’re better off alone than dating someone who doesn’t treat you right, someone who doesn’t rise to the standards you’ve set for yourself.
You shouldn’t close off your heart from the entire world because you feel like you’re better off alone than in any relationship — but you should recognize sometimes being single is the right choice. Sometimes, you’re much better off alone than you would be answering his texts. 
