In my previous post, I wrote about the suffering of singleness. I want to start the rest of the series by celebrating singleness a little bit. No matter your situation, when things are hard, it’s such a great practice to list off all that you have and all that you are grateful for. So, here’s a non-exhaustive list on all the wonderful things about being single.

1. I can still theoretically kiss whomever I want. I say this because when I was 20, I wrote a similar blog post and although I’ve only ever kissed one person, the sentiment stands: I still have room to make mistakes, take risks, and kiss anyone! There’s freedom in this season. Not to be abused, of course.
2. My time is my time. I can decide what to do with it. There are no other immediate factors. Being a person of substance though, I consider a LOT of outside factors when it comes to what I do with my time.
3. I think what I’m getting at is there’s a lot of freedom! Freedom to be wherever, do whatever, eat whatever, sleep however long, and no one is going to be too inconvenienced by my choices (hopefully).
4. I can give my time and energy freely to others. I can go over to my friends’ house and have dinner with them and their kids more readily than they can do the same.
5. I can travel and not miss my partner waiting for me back home. Trust me, this one is SO nice when you’re out there having fun.
6. I probably have a lot more money to spend on myself since I don’t have a family to spend it on.
7. I can unapologetically pursue my goals and dreams without them getting in the way of others’ goals and dreams. THE dream is to find a person whose goals and dream are compatible with yours though, am I right? Like Paul says, you can serve the Lord undistracted! (BG paraphrase)
8. I have been able to grow and mature on my own- a lot of times it’s not the result of me hurting the person I live with, it’s just a result of self-reflection and growing self-awareness.
9. Things are quiet here.
10. I only smell my own farts in bed.
11. I don’t have to share my bathroom. That’s such a gift.
12. I have learned to do so many neat things- build stuff, fix stuff, cook stuff because I wasn’t relying on someone else.
13. I am super savvy with deals and money because I’m only making one person’s worth of money (and it’s not much LET ME TELL YOU.)
14. I spend so much time with friends! I love that.
15. I have so many hobbies.

I could probably go on and on. I’m sure that married people can do so much of the above as well. But in order to have healthy marriages and families, it takes a lot of effort and time. Effort that inspires me and blows me away. Marriage and family brings new challenges and growth that singleness never will. And that’s ok! We are all whole beings. Celebrate that where you’re at!

Part 4: Holy Aloneness

Part Two Here