The Single Life: Does Anyone Truly Want It?

The other night, while eating dinner with a friend at one of the 4874 Thai restaurants in my neighborhood, we got into a discussion about being single.

“I’ve decided that deep down, no girl really wants to be alone,” my friend announced as she cut into her spring rolls. “Even if she says she doesn’t want a boyfriend, if the right guy stepped into her life, she’d take him.”

“What about So-And-So?” I asked, naming another mutual friend. “She kept saying how happy she was without a guy, and how she was too busy anyway. She seemed fine.”

“Didn’t you hear? Last month she landed a dude.” My friend handed me half of her spring roll, using the other half to point in my direction. “She bumped into this guy at a party and two weeks later she was updating her Facebook status to read So-And-So is totally in love.”

“Ew. Really?” Inwardly, I was jealous. When was the last time I had updated my Facebook status to say I was totally in love? Never, I realized, since the last time I was in love, Facebook hadn’t even been invented.

“Really.” My friend declared. “Us women all need to face the fact that being single just isn’t our natural stasis.”

Since that conversation over hot and sour soup, I’ve been thinking a lot about what my friend said compared to what society is so adamant in making me believe. Everywhere I turn someone is determined to convince me that being single is perfectly fine. A good decision even. Something to be cherished and respected. Single girls rule!

But then I go back and think about how personally, if the right guy walked into my life tomorrow, I’d have no problem putting my single days behind me forever. I’d always thought my inclination towards long-term relationships was just inherently me, but what if there are other girls out there who also really dislike a table for one?

Are we all just hiding our desire to be coupled because we think it makes us weak and dependant? Are we afraid we’ll be deemed an unsatisfactory Feminist? Has the You Go Single Girl! media blitzkrieg worked so well that we’ve convinced our selves of something that isn’t actually true?

Or are there really girls who, when faced with Mr. Right, would tell him to come back in a year?