We are going to go ahead and say it: We get it. We totally and completely understand that the temptation to put life on “pause” until you find the perfect person and drift off into dreamy relationship land is way too real.
Everyone is tempted about 15 (million) times during their single lives to roll over and give up on life. But we have a crazy counter-cultural thought; we actually think that life starts long before you enter a relationship and that you should take full advantage of your season as someone who is single.
… The alternative is that you are burning up time and wasting your life. Someone has to be honest, right?
Being single has its ups and downs, as every season does (single or otherwise), but right now, let’s focus on one of the major benefits of being single: the ability to use your free time in whatever way you would like.
NOW THAT’S AN AWESOME BENEFIT.
And here’s a list of the things we added to our “single season bucket list” in 2018:
Travel — People usually want to put off traveling until they are in a relationship. We’ve all heard people say, “yeah I’m gonna travel later in life” only to get married, have tons of kids (not that you can’t travel with kids) and never travel farther than the suburbs of their own city. Why not spend money and go and see the world while it is cheaper and easier than at any other point in your life?! We know what you are thinking: “I don’t have the savings; I’m busy; I don’t want to travel alone” and the list goes on. There are ways to travel cheaply (google them!). Regarding the “time” excuse: Take the time off and GO. Now, we get the “not wanting to travel by yourself” excuse but to that we say, go gather the group of friends you’ve found (keep reading, as this comes into play!) and go somewhere fun.
Build friendships — Friendships are incredibly valuable in every season of life. You need friends when you are single, dating, married, or married with five kids. You need people to keep you accountable, call you out, and help you see things clearly when your vision is clouded. If you find great friendships and surround yourself with awesome people, and learn how to become a selfless friend while you are single, it will enable you to be a more selfless partner. Building good friendships now will teach you things that you can use later and help you through every season of life.
Save money — Bet you didn’t see this one coming, right?? (ha … we kid, we kid.) We know, everyone and their mom offers this, but it’s common advice because it’s good advice. When you practice and establish good budgeting tools while you are single, it’ll be way easier to enter a relationship later that has healthy spending habits. It would probably be easier to learn this by yourself now rather than learning about it as a newlywed or married couple. Save money, pay off debt, and create healthy spending habits now. Accomplishing these things right now will be so invaluable no matter what your relationship status is down the road. Not good with budgeting? We got you with some helpful tips to budget for building wealth.
Establish good habits and invest in yourself — Establishing good habits and patterns (like reading a morning devotional, eating healthy, working out, being a part of a small group, etc.) are all so vital for living a full life. Creating these while you are single and have the space to focus more on yourself might be easier than while you are busy entering a new relationship and navigating those new waters. Spend time investing in yourself! And as far as investing in yourself goes, buy the course, hire a personal training, read the book, go to the conference, buy the nice “investment piece” jacket. You are worth it now; you don’t have to wait until you are in a relationship to do these things!
Find hobbies — Maybe you want to learn a new language, pick up an instrument, play more sports, write a book, cook. Now is the time. You might be saying: “That sounds nice, but I don’t have time.” It’s not that you have more free time than people who are in relationships or that have kids — but it is that your time apart from work is more flexible. It’s not that people in relationships or with kids are busier, it’s just that when life seasons transition, it typically becomes about other people, (not better or worse, it’s just the transition) and therefore time is no longer your own. Time becomes less flexible because it’s about others rather than yourself. When you are single, you can spend as much time as you decide to spend and set aside on a hobby as you’d like. Find one (or a few) that you enjoy, that you can do with friends, and that make you come alive. If you don’t know where to begin, ask friends, peruse Pinterest, or check out spaces in your city that offer classes about cool subjects.
At the end of the day, being single and being in a relationship both have their benefits. Take advantage of all that the season that you are in has to offer. No matter what season of life you are in, live your life to the fullest and don’t hold back. Just go for it, and give it all you’ve got! Come on singles, the time is now.
