Single -mindedness
I’ve never had a boyfriend. Yes, after this first line, I know what you’re probably thinking: “Hell, this is another cheesy NO Boyfriend Since Birth tale of a lonely, soon-to-be old maid!” or “ I’ve read slash heard slash watched this ‘I Chose To Be Single’ crap before…” Yes I know because I am one of you. Being single myself and hoping to feel consoled and empowered, I also read and devoured these stories and articles until I became so fed up with the same things being written over and over again. Why? ‘Coz it’s actually getting me nowhere! I still don’t have a boyfriend and if I hear someone tell me one more time that it’s fun to be single, I’ll gladly and unapologetically wring his or her neck!
So if you expect this to be your usual You Go Girl! article, capital S-O-R-R-Y because this is definitely not it. I’m tired of all the WHY BEING SINGLE IS A BLAST or WHY I’M SINGLE AND LOVING IT sh*t that are supposed to make you feel less of a loser, puhleeez. I’m here to give you my own tactless, no-holds barred, sometimes even bitchy account of the real thing: WHY BEING SINGLE SUCKS.
MYTH # 1
It’s fun being single because you get to spend more time with your family
Oh yeah? Tell that to someone whose mom, titas and even lola are constantly bugging her to introduce the nonexistent boyfriend to the family and take him to dinner. There are times when I believe that my mom is actually worried if she brought me up right because five years after she allowed me to have a boyfriend, I still haven’t come up with a guy she’ll approve or even disapprove of. I imagine that my mom already has this I-don’t-like-him- he’s-not-good-for-you speech she’s way ready to shout at me but still hasn’t found the chance to. Maybe it became too anti-climactic for her that’s why she’s so eager for me to just get on with it and introduce any guy to her, anyone!
MYTH # 2
It’s fun being single because you get to go out and gimik with your friends whenever you want to
Did I hear the word friends? Yes, I have a lot of friends, tons of them. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE my friends but being with them 90 percent of my free time also has its side effects. One, you get a little too possessive of your friends. Since you depend on them for companionship, it’s not surprising that you get green-eyed when they meet new buddies and you feel suddenly left out. You want to keep them inside your circle because without them, you’re alone. There’s no special someone waiting for you in case a friend decides to take a rain check five minutes before the One Night Only Black Eyed Peas concert you’ve saved up for. Heck, you even bought matching outfits for the event only to find out that you’ll have to scream LETS GET RETARDED alone and look like, yes, a retarded.
Which brings me to my next point: When you have a boyfriend, you have someone to go with you to the mall and carry your stuff when your shopping buddy doesn’t feel like it; You have someone to watch your much awaited movie with when all your friends already watched it; There’s someone who’ll take you home without arguing who goes first; someone you can ask to go to Mercury Drug when you’re sick and couldn’t get up… The list goes on but the bottom line is: Our friends also have lives of their own and being single doesn’t give us the right to monopolize all their time and we can’t always ask them to do things for us even if we really need them to. Being single sometimes makes us this kind of friends. We don’t want to feel alone so we share with them not only our joys but also our miseries. Sometimes we even expect them to feel miserable like us! So instead of being all fun and funky, we just scare them away with all our negative energies. Tsk, tsk. Destructive huh?
The next one is what every single girl dreads: her former single girl friends having boyfriends! I assure you this is a nightmare. I’m not being bitter or anything. I’m happy that my friends get to find their Mr. Rights but not when a girls’ night out suddenly turns into a couples’ night and nobody told me about it! Late last year, I, together with three other girl pals planned to watch a concert at Baywalk. On the night of the event, two of them brought their boyfriends with them, and unfortunately for me, our other single girl bud did not show up so I was instantly the fifth wheel! During that night, I was wishing so hard that fairy godmother would hear me and I’ll bump into Prince Charming right there and then. Either that or maybe Manila Bay would just swallow me up! I could’ve wailed if it was not so embarrassing!
MYTH # 3
It’s fun being single because you get to have more time to try new stuff you’ve always wanted to try
Rappelling, Target shooting, Slide for life, Chocolate making, Gymming, Adobe Photoshop, Video Editing, Traveling, Beach hopping, clubbing, bag making, pocketbook hoarding, DVD marathons of LOST, Desperate Housewives, Veronica Mars, Prison Break, My Name is Earl, even Koreanovelas! I followed the manual. I made myself busy with interesting and even daring, life-threatening stuff to make me forget that I’m single and enjoy ME time. Whenever I get an empty space in my usually busy schedule, I made sure to squeeze an activity so I won’t wallow with my solitary self. However, after some time doing all these things, jumping from one hobby to the next became not so exciting anymore. Sure, I enjoyed myself one way or another in these new found hobbies but it didn’t change the fact that there’s still not someone special to share these things with. While trying out these new things, there’s still that nagging hope that Future Boyfriend will suddenly pop out and introduce himself. Suddenly, I did it all wrong. Instead of focusing on having fun, I actually made these activities into an excuse to meet a guy. The gym instructor, the tour guide, the lifeguard, the chef, the laptop seller and even the guy lining up behind me in POWERBOOKS are suspects! PATHETIC. Go on, I’m not telling you to just sit there and get your share of oxygen. MOVE and do whatever you want to try out, as I’ve said I enjoyed myself but if you expect it to be the cure to your lonely heart- dream on honey.
MYTH # 4
It’s fun being single because you get to date lots of guys.
Like any normal single girl I know, I am always on the look out for a possible prey! I am a firm believer that if you really want to have a boyfriend, the least you could do is let the guys know that you’re interested and available. I’m not saying that girls should make the first move (they can in special cases) but girls should drop the pa-Maria Clara façade coz hiding behind an abaniko will make it hard for future boyfriends to find them! So on a regular night out, while my committed girl friends behave under the watchful eyes and constant phone call checks of their boyfriends, I dance the night away and flirt with guys around. And yes, I did meet guys: guys who can be termed as ‘boylets’. Boylet is how today’s generation call a guy who is more than your friend but is not really your boyfriend. You go out, you flirt, and you do things like you’re in a relationship but minus the commitment. I had my share of boylets but not one became a boyfriend. You can say that just having boylets has its own advantages. You get the same kilig feeling but you are not bound to see this guy exclusively. You can collect and collect until you feel that you’re ready to select. It’s hassle-free because your time is your own and you are not obliged to do girlfriend-things for the guy if you don’t want to. However, the downside is that this set-up goes both ways. The boylet can also see other girls; he can collect and collect and NOT select you in the end; he can disappear and you can’t demand for time because you don’t really have the right to do so. In the end, after all the kilig and excitement, you know that there’s no assurance that he really cares for you and worse, it’s mostly the girls who fall for the boylets and not the other way around. It’s a heartbreak waiting to happen. But of course, you can’t blame girls like me from engaging in this type of set-up because really, deep in our hearts, we know that there’s a wish that one of these boylets will turn out to be the real thing. So I must disagree. Being single and being able to date lots of guys do not always spell fun. Sometimes, dating becomes a tiring process that just play roller-coaster on a girl’s emotions. And you know what’s worse? Because of the low single woman-man ratio, it’s actually hard to find decent guys to date or meet in the first place!
* * *
Maybe you’re thinking what good would this article do anyway? Why let other single lonely girls read this depressing piece when chances are they’ll just feel more miserable, right? Feminists would probably jump at the chance to dissect this and see this as something that degrades women as it suggests that we need men to be happy. Well maybe you’re right and I’m wrong. Maybe all the FUN TO BE SINGLE empowerment stuff is really effective. Maybe there’s just something wrong with me that’s why I am not enjoying single life or worse, why I can’t get a decent guy for a boyfriend. But the reason why I really wrote this is because I want to tell the world how real women like me truly feel about being single. Wow, I appreciate that there are a lot of people who are there to cheer singles like me up, people who even offer advice on how to enjoy life even without a partner. But maybe deep inside, I’m just an old-fashioned romantic. Being single sucks when I have to spend another Valentines alone. It sucks when there’s nobody who sends me corny love messages not because its unlimited texting but because he means it. It sucks when people ask me if I have a boyfriend and when I answer no, they ask me why. It sucks when I’m tired from work and nobody’s there at the end of the day to tell me it’s all going to be all right. It sucks when I get dressed up and make myself pretty knowing that there’s no one special to tell me I’m beautiful whatever I’m wearing. It sucks when I’m already sleepy and there’s no one who’ll offer his shoulder for me to lean on. It sucks when there’s no one I could cuddle up with at night. It sucks when there’s no one to share my deepest thoughts with knowing that he’ll love me no matter what…
I’m sure that if I wanted to, I could note down a whole newspaper’s worth of reasons why it sucks being single but I’ll stop right here. Hopefully, I made my point. Hey, it’s okay to admit that being single makes you feel wretched at times, some times, or even most of the time. When I finally gave in to this realization, I was able to put it behind me. No more lying to myself that I’m okay when I’m really not. Now, I try to find happiness in other things because surprisingly, there’s really more to life than having a boyfriend. I’m not changing sides here, all I’m saying is that if you feel crap about being single (like I still do), no problemo, give in to the feeling, admit it. Stop denying the fact that your lovelife makes you feel miserable because you’ll not be able to find the solution if you don’t face that you have a problem about it. But like me, learn how to move on and not revolve around this sh**ty feeling. Now that you know that you don’t like the idea of being single, make this your motivation to shape up and become a better person so that when Mr. Right finally comes along, you’ll be ready.
So if you expect this to be your usual You Go Girl! article, capital S-O-R-R-Y because this is definitely not it. I’m tired of all the WHY BEING SINGLE IS A BLAST or WHY I’M SINGLE AND LOVING IT sh*t that are supposed to make you feel less of a loser, puhleeez. I’m here to give you my own tactless, no-holds barred, sometimes even bitchy account of the real thing: WHY BEING SINGLE SUCKS.
MYTH # 1
It’s fun being single because you get to spend more time with your family
Oh yeah? Tell that to someone whose mom, titas and even lola are constantly bugging her to introduce the nonexistent boyfriend to the family and take him to dinner. There are times when I believe that my mom is actually worried if she brought me up right because five years after she allowed me to have a boyfriend, I still haven’t come up with a guy she’ll approve or even disapprove of. I imagine that my mom already has this I-don’t-like-him- he’s-not-good-for-you speech she’s way ready to shout at me but still hasn’t found the chance to. Maybe it became too anti-climactic for her that’s why she’s so eager for me to just get on with it and introduce any guy to her, anyone!
MYTH # 2
It’s fun being single because you get to go out and gimik with your friends whenever you want to
Did I hear the word friends? Yes, I have a lot of friends, tons of them. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE my friends but being with them 90 percent of my free time also has its side effects. One, you get a little too possessive of your friends. Since you depend on them for companionship, it’s not surprising that you get green-eyed when they meet new buddies and you feel suddenly left out. You want to keep them inside your circle because without them, you’re alone. There’s no special someone waiting for you in case a friend decides to take a rain check five minutes before the One Night Only Black Eyed Peas concert you’ve saved up for. Heck, you even bought matching outfits for the event only to find out that you’ll have to scream LETS GET RETARDED alone and look like, yes, a retarded.
Which brings me to my next point: When you have a boyfriend, you have someone to go with you to the mall and carry your stuff when your shopping buddy doesn’t feel like it; You have someone to watch your much awaited movie with when all your friends already watched it; There’s someone who’ll take you home without arguing who goes first; someone you can ask to go to Mercury Drug when you’re sick and couldn’t get up… The list goes on but the bottom line is: Our friends also have lives of their own and being single doesn’t give us the right to monopolize all their time and we can’t always ask them to do things for us even if we really need them to. Being single sometimes makes us this kind of friends. We don’t want to feel alone so we share with them not only our joys but also our miseries. Sometimes we even expect them to feel miserable like us! So instead of being all fun and funky, we just scare them away with all our negative energies. Tsk, tsk. Destructive huh?
The next one is what every single girl dreads: her former single girl friends having boyfriends! I assure you this is a nightmare. I’m not being bitter or anything. I’m happy that my friends get to find their Mr. Rights but not when a girls’ night out suddenly turns into a couples’ night and nobody told me about it! Late last year, I, together with three other girl pals planned to watch a concert at Baywalk. On the night of the event, two of them brought their boyfriends with them, and unfortunately for me, our other single girl bud did not show up so I was instantly the fifth wheel! During that night, I was wishing so hard that fairy godmother would hear me and I’ll bump into Prince Charming right there and then. Either that or maybe Manila Bay would just swallow me up! I could’ve wailed if it was not so embarrassing!
MYTH # 3
It’s fun being single because you get to have more time to try new stuff you’ve always wanted to try
Rappelling, Target shooting, Slide for life, Chocolate making, Gymming, Adobe Photoshop, Video Editing, Traveling, Beach hopping, clubbing, bag making, pocketbook hoarding, DVD marathons of LOST, Desperate Housewives, Veronica Mars, Prison Break, My Name is Earl, even Koreanovelas! I followed the manual. I made myself busy with interesting and even daring, life-threatening stuff to make me forget that I’m single and enjoy ME time. Whenever I get an empty space in my usually busy schedule, I made sure to squeeze an activity so I won’t wallow with my solitary self. However, after some time doing all these things, jumping from one hobby to the next became not so exciting anymore. Sure, I enjoyed myself one way or another in these new found hobbies but it didn’t change the fact that there’s still not someone special to share these things with. While trying out these new things, there’s still that nagging hope that Future Boyfriend will suddenly pop out and introduce himself. Suddenly, I did it all wrong. Instead of focusing on having fun, I actually made these activities into an excuse to meet a guy. The gym instructor, the tour guide, the lifeguard, the chef, the laptop seller and even the guy lining up behind me in POWERBOOKS are suspects! PATHETIC. Go on, I’m not telling you to just sit there and get your share of oxygen. MOVE and do whatever you want to try out, as I’ve said I enjoyed myself but if you expect it to be the cure to your lonely heart- dream on honey.
MYTH # 4
It’s fun being single because you get to date lots of guys.
Like any normal single girl I know, I am always on the look out for a possible prey! I am a firm believer that if you really want to have a boyfriend, the least you could do is let the guys know that you’re interested and available. I’m not saying that girls should make the first move (they can in special cases) but girls should drop the pa-Maria Clara façade coz hiding behind an abaniko will make it hard for future boyfriends to find them! So on a regular night out, while my committed girl friends behave under the watchful eyes and constant phone call checks of their boyfriends, I dance the night away and flirt with guys around. And yes, I did meet guys: guys who can be termed as ‘boylets’. Boylet is how today’s generation call a guy who is more than your friend but is not really your boyfriend. You go out, you flirt, and you do things like you’re in a relationship but minus the commitment. I had my share of boylets but not one became a boyfriend. You can say that just having boylets has its own advantages. You get the same kilig feeling but you are not bound to see this guy exclusively. You can collect and collect until you feel that you’re ready to select. It’s hassle-free because your time is your own and you are not obliged to do girlfriend-things for the guy if you don’t want to. However, the downside is that this set-up goes both ways. The boylet can also see other girls; he can collect and collect and NOT select you in the end; he can disappear and you can’t demand for time because you don’t really have the right to do so. In the end, after all the kilig and excitement, you know that there’s no assurance that he really cares for you and worse, it’s mostly the girls who fall for the boylets and not the other way around. It’s a heartbreak waiting to happen. But of course, you can’t blame girls like me from engaging in this type of set-up because really, deep in our hearts, we know that there’s a wish that one of these boylets will turn out to be the real thing. So I must disagree. Being single and being able to date lots of guys do not always spell fun. Sometimes, dating becomes a tiring process that just play roller-coaster on a girl’s emotions. And you know what’s worse? Because of the low single woman-man ratio, it’s actually hard to find decent guys to date or meet in the first place!
* * *
Maybe you’re thinking what good would this article do anyway? Why let other single lonely girls read this depressing piece when chances are they’ll just feel more miserable, right? Feminists would probably jump at the chance to dissect this and see this as something that degrades women as it suggests that we need men to be happy. Well maybe you’re right and I’m wrong. Maybe all the FUN TO BE SINGLE empowerment stuff is really effective. Maybe there’s just something wrong with me that’s why I am not enjoying single life or worse, why I can’t get a decent guy for a boyfriend. But the reason why I really wrote this is because I want to tell the world how real women like me truly feel about being single. Wow, I appreciate that there are a lot of people who are there to cheer singles like me up, people who even offer advice on how to enjoy life even without a partner. But maybe deep inside, I’m just an old-fashioned romantic. Being single sucks when I have to spend another Valentines alone. It sucks when there’s nobody who sends me corny love messages not because its unlimited texting but because he means it. It sucks when people ask me if I have a boyfriend and when I answer no, they ask me why. It sucks when I’m tired from work and nobody’s there at the end of the day to tell me it’s all going to be all right. It sucks when I get dressed up and make myself pretty knowing that there’s no one special to tell me I’m beautiful whatever I’m wearing. It sucks when I’m already sleepy and there’s no one who’ll offer his shoulder for me to lean on. It sucks when there’s no one I could cuddle up with at night. It sucks when there’s no one to share my deepest thoughts with knowing that he’ll love me no matter what…
I’m sure that if I wanted to, I could note down a whole newspaper’s worth of reasons why it sucks being single but I’ll stop right here. Hopefully, I made my point. Hey, it’s okay to admit that being single makes you feel wretched at times, some times, or even most of the time. When I finally gave in to this realization, I was able to put it behind me. No more lying to myself that I’m okay when I’m really not. Now, I try to find happiness in other things because surprisingly, there’s really more to life than having a boyfriend. I’m not changing sides here, all I’m saying is that if you feel crap about being single (like I still do), no problemo, give in to the feeling, admit it. Stop denying the fact that your lovelife makes you feel miserable because you’ll not be able to find the solution if you don’t face that you have a problem about it. But like me, learn how to move on and not revolve around this sh**ty feeling. Now that you know that you don’t like the idea of being single, make this your motivation to shape up and become a better person so that when Mr. Right finally comes along, you’ll be ready.
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