As high school students, relationships are a part of our life despite our feelings about them. From seeing these romantic relationships in movies and in the hallways at school, there is no way to avoid them. In a society where romantic relationships are seen as normal, we also need to learn to enjoy life single.
Start by taking yourself out for some well deserved “me time.” For example, you can go to the mall for retail therapy and go to the gym to release endorphins. According to Healthline, exercise can help relieve symptoms of depression in several ways. Among other benefits, it helps stimulate the release of feel-good chemicals in your brain, or endorphins.
According to the Huffington Post, “A high school environment is not a healthy place for an intense romantic affair, what with the drama involved in adolescence and the fact that a relationship takes away from the things that are truly important at such a fruitful age”
When you are single, you learn how to be alone and being single can become easier once you learn to be okay with it.
“I enjoy myself by dedicating more time to myself and taking more time for self-care,” explained junior Miranda Goodison.
Friends are also a great way to distract you from romantic relationships. When you have high school friendships they can give you better self-esteem, a higher functioning immune system as well as an optimistic outlook on life according to Newport Academy.
“[Friends] bring my personality out more so than a boyfriend can,” said Goodison.
You can also go out and have fun with your peers without the expectation of having a romantic interaction.
“It makes me feel more independent and more able to do things on my own instead of depending on someone else to care for me,” said junior Rondea Dotson.
When we are in relationships, we tend to want to rely on our significant others for attention as well as support. According to Brandon Gaille, “At most, 2% of marriages today are from a high school relationship, 25% of women say that they married their first love.”
“It’s not good [to rely on your significant other],” said junior Thomas Cloutier. “You should rely on yourself, always, and you have to be okay with being by yourself in order to be okay with being with someone else.”
You can counteract relying on your significant other when you are single by supporting yourself and organizing your goals and plans. This could mean setting out your goals for college or if you are a senior, deciding where you are going to attend college. Thinking of bigger and better things can also help you overcome the thought of being upset about your ex-partner.
Cloutier says that being single, “puts more focus on yourself and lets you focus more on what you have to do throughout the day.”
Overall being single should not impact you in a negative way. Junior Sydni Seady says “It makes me a better person.”
Once you can understand what you enjoy when you are alone, it will become easier on you. Romantic relationships are not the only thing we have going for us, and once we can focus on the other pieces of our lives, relationships will become much easier on you and your future partner.
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Being Single Doesn’t Mean you Have To Mingle
February 11, 2019
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About the Contributor
Miranda Cole, Photo Editor
As a Senior here at Loy Norrix, on the varsity cheer squad and taking the field with the band as the feature baton twirler, I keep busy! This year I contribute to Knight Life as the photo editor while also writing articles. I have recently been accepted into my college of choice and plan to study Journalism and Public relations. Enjoy!
