Fall is the hardest time of year for us sad singletons. The weather is turning a disappointing grey color, and you’re starting to feel like a fat, unloved lump. Christmas party season is looming and all you can think about is your uncle Bob’s classic carol “Still no boyfriend?? STILL no boyfriend?” You hear the incessant “tick tock!” of your ovaries, silently disapproving of your lack of progress, and the black hole in your chest where your heart used to live seems to insatiably suck up endless repeat views of PS – I Love You on Netflix. You’re basically sure that you’re about to shrivel up and die if you don’t….
Hold the phone!
I’m sorry, but is anyone else as sick as I am of being painted as the sad, lonely, single person? “Survive” being single? How about we f**cking kill it at being single this fall? Oh, what’s that?
Being single means I don’t have to care about someone else’s preferences all the time when it comes to dinner, movies, my hair, whatever?
I can choose to come home after spin class and eat $20 worth of buffalo mozzarella for dinner and the only one judging me is the dog? (And let’s be real, he’s just jealous). Sign me up!
I get to sleep in on Saturday mornings rather than get up and be the supportive girlfriend slash cheerleader for my boyfriend’s mediocre rugby team?
Sounds great!
I don’t have to worry about flirting with the hot hipster barista whose dogeared copy of Kurt Vonegut, peeking out of the back pocket of his skinny jeans, makes me fall deeper in love with him every morning?
Perfect.
Here are some things you can do with your fall if you don’t have a boyfriend to consider:
Learn something
I’m taking a few classes this fall because I feel like I finally have the time. Whether its for professional development, or just out of interest, there are plenty of things out there that will make you feel like you’ve finally accomplished something by surfing the internet. (Coursera.org offers online classes on a variety of subjects presented by well-known universities, for free!)
Get fit
You know what I don’t feel like doing in the beautiful sunshine of the summer months? Going to the gym. The gym boring and has terrible fluorescent lighting that is infinitely less pleasant than real sunlight. Now that its raining again though, its time to hit the mat. Yoga, spin, TR – its on. Your six pack is just waiting to be discovered.
Read all the things
My stack of books to read is growing ever higher. Pretty soon I likely won’t need to bother with furniture at all, I can just eat, sleep, and shower on a platform of unread novels. Luckily the fall is the perfect time of year to dig into a good book. This month’s reading list: Not That Kind of Girl – Lena Dunham, and Dataclysm – Christian Rudder.
Dance your face off
Fall is a great time to see concerts. Have you noticed that its like every band you ever wanted to see finally decided to come to town? A lot of musicians pick up or start their touring schedule in the fall, so its a great time to see live music. With so many awesome music streaming and sharing services out there, getting pumped about a concert about is only a click away!
So, don’t stress about not finding a date to thanksgiving dinner, or the possibility of standing alone under the mistletoe, silently weeping into a pint glass of eggnog, just put it out of your mind. Desperation doesn’t look good on anyone. Instead, enjoy all the great things about being single this fall; spending time with friends and family, leftover Halloween candy, and hipster coffee babes in christmas sweaters.
There are plenty of great things about being in a relationship, and we all (or most of us, realistically), want to end up in one one day. BUT, there are also a lot of great perks to being single. One of the major ones being that you get to focus on you.
The key to “surviving” being single this fall? Be awesome, and fantastic, and fun, and beautiful, and do it all for yourself.
