As New Year's Eve begins to creep closer and closer, one of the biggest fears that most young adults tend to have comes to light: the fear of not having someone to kiss when that clock strikes midnight and fireworks light the night sky, bidding farewell to 2015 and ringing in 2016 with a literal bang. The idea of being surrounded by friends and couples alike, all otherwise occupied in their brief lip-locking session while you're stuck standing there alone frantically glancing around to see if there's anyone else in your position, isn't the way you'd really want to start 2016. But, why? Why do we get caught up in something as simple and trivial as a New Year's kiss? Why do we seem to always think someone needs to kiss someone else at midnight?

I don't know about you, but I certainly don't.

At 21 years old, I've experienced 20 New Year's Eves and with the exception of the pecks on the cheek from family members, I've never actually had a New Year's kiss. That may very well have everything to do with the fact that I'm either perpetually single on New Year's Eves (and Valentine's Day, Sweetest Day, and every other day that being in a relationship plays a huge role in), out of the city, state, country, and/or continent, or some sort of combination of both, but it's never something that's particularly gotten at me. Not once have I ever really looked at the instagrams posted all throughout the next day of my friends' New Year's kisses and found myself immensely jealous that I didn't have someone to share that same experience with. That's way too much pressure to get the timing exactly right and still have it be something romantic, and I'm just not prepared to deal with that.

All kidding aside, kissing someone at midnight really isn't as big of a deal as it's made out to be, and if you feel as though you're missing out at midnight by not being able to, trust me when I say that you're not. There are plenty of other things you can be doing all throughout New Year's Eve. If you're at a party with some of your closest friends, just enjoy that you get to spend such an amazing moment with them. Whenever you look back at it, you'll always know that those were the people that you spent your very first moments of a year, with and that's pretty damn special. Plus, you also get to see the fireworks as soon as they start and don't have to miss out on the first few seconds because of something else. As someone who's pretty fond of fireworks, I've always been rather happy about that that fact.

And, though it's something that it's taken me a long time to figure out, there's really nothing wrong with being single. It's something that I always preach and then as soon as I end up in relationships again and watch them fall apart and find myself drifting away from people, no solution in sight, no matter how badly I want to fix it, I understand why people don't enjoy being single and why craving that sort of affection and embrace can be such an overpowering thing. Because, whether we like it or not, there are plenty of times where being alone just sucks. You just want someone to cuddle with and someone to feel that special connection with, but you don't have that and you feel like you're missing something. I get it. Trust me, I do.

But on the other hand, there's just as many times where being alone and single can be an equally fantastic thing. It gives you an unlimited amount of time to divvy up between your friends and family, instead of having to divide it between three groups. It gives you plenty of time to do all the things that you want to do with your life without having to run it by anyone else or worry if it's something they're also going to want to do, also giving you plenty of chances to experience your life to its fullest. Above all else, it teaches you crucial lessons in becoming independent and self-sufficient, because if you can't make yourself happy first and foremost, how can you expect someone else to? It's not fair to put that amount of pressure on another person. We're all only human, after all.

So, if you do happen to find yourself single and without a kissing companion on New Year's Eve, be it someone you're more romantically involved with or something that's strictly platonic, don't sweat it. There's plenty of other ways to enjoy your night. Have fun with your friends, have a few drinks (if you're of the legal age, of course), make some memories that'll last for a lifetime, and enjoy the fact that you're being presented with a whole new start. 2016 is yours for the taking and only you can decide how that's going to go for you. Don't start the year off getting caught up focusing on some trivial "tradition" and instead spend it doing what you enjoy and what you want to do. After all, you only get to ring in 2016 once, so you might as well make it the best damn first hours of 2016 that you can.