Advantages of being single

Singlehood, which revolves around an abundance of freedom and personal space, can be an incredibly joyful phase in your life, no matter how much people claim that jumping onto the relationship bandwagon is akin to reaching a milestone in their lives. 

TIME AND OPPORTUNITY
Being in a relationship can be exhausting as it requires a significant amount of time and energy to maintain it, what with the incessant texting, talking on the phone, going on dates and sorting out fights. 

Going solo allows you to invest that time and effort in engaging in more constructive courses of action, such as studying, participating in extracurricular activities and climbing the career ladder, all of which help you pursue personal growth on a greater scale and develop more fully as an individual. 

Moreover, you also get more opportunity to spend time with your most beloved friends and family, who, once you enter a relationship, will tend to complain about how you have forgotten their existence and pushed them to the farthest corners of your mind. 

Basically, being single gives you the chance to do whatever you please without being bogged down by responsibilities that a relationship demands.

MORE SLEEP AND FEWER HEADACHES 
As appealing as PDA in university cafeterias and Facebook statuses by your beloved heaping you with praise sounds, a relationship is not as rosy as it appears on the surface. Sometimes even the smallest of arguments with your special one can give you the biggest of headaches that not even the best medicine can cure. 

The aspect of eternal commitment is bound to rise at some point or another. Do you imagine tying the knot and starting a family with your boyfriend or girlfriend in the future? Do you want to support him or her in sickness and health until you die or is it just a seasonal fling? 

If you dread the idea of taking the plunge, questions circulating lifetime commitment are likely to rob you of a peaceful night's sleep because chances that you will be awake half the night worrying what the future of your relationship holds for you are quite high. 

In this case, singles can save themselves from sleep deprivation and headaches which arise from dilemmas faced by couples on a regular basis.

MORE MONEY TO SPEND AND SAVE
Being in a relationship places you under the obligation of pampering your significant other with gifts, as well as paying for dates, and if your frequent dating spots include high-end cafes on Banani Road 11, then settling the bill is most likely to topple your finances and leave you bankrupt. 

Even if you do not indulge in extravagant dates or overspend on gifts, every penny spent buying your boyfriend/girlfriend a KitKat or paying for a date in CP could have fuelled your savings if you were single and made you rich without your parents giving you access to your inheritance. Furthermore, all the money that goes behind paying for your phone credit and Internet package required to communicate with your beloved 4000 times a day could be invested in many other things, for example the much coveted iPhone 6 that your father refuses to pay for. Hence it is rational to assume that singlehood can make you feel like Bill Gates at the end of the day.

Despite the benefits that singledom has to offer, deep down we all wait for our Cinderella/Prince Charming to light up our lives, with whom we can share our happiness and sorrows. 

I once stumbled across a post in my newsfeed which stated that when the timing is right the person who is meant to be for you will automatically walk into your life. Till then my advice to all the singles out there is keep calm and enjoy it while it lasts.

By Mehnaz Tabassum Khaleel