I never really dated in high school. I mean I did, but it wasn’t a relationship to write home about. It was something I noticed early on in my teenage years: I was mature and didn’t see the point in wasting my time. Of course, there are many who end up marrying their high school sweetheart. That’s awesome for them.

Yet, I never saw the point in devoting my time into a boy when I knew it wasn’t something long-lasting.

So many looked at me and often thought of me being a “prude” or not wanting to have fun. However, why would I want to see myself in and out of relationships when there was not a foreseeable future?

I like to think of my sense of singleness as a time where I build and work on myself. It's a time of self-development. I’m able to chase my goals with nothing holding me back. I don’t have to think about how my decisions now could affect my significant other. I’m able to come and go as I please as I strive to be the best me possible.

It’s often that girls my age can’t seem to live, let alone breathe, without a companion by their side.

They can’t seem to stay single and feel out of place without a boy in their lives. My advice to them: get a dog. It truly saddens me to see people who aren’t able to flourish without a significant other. In addition, there are others who allow their selves to be in such toxic, unhealthy relationships. They spend so much time looking for a new boyfriend or being told what they can and can’t do that they aren’t able to focus on what’s most important: their selves.

This whole idea was explained to me so perfectly at a campus ministry service. We need to think of our lives and living in singleness as though we are on a path.

On this path, we’re looking forward.

We’re doing the things that we deem correct. We’re chasing opportunity. We’re doing what is going to make for the best you. While we’re on this path to “success,” one day, when we least expect it, our one and our only will come about. We weren’t looking for them.

They just seemed to happen on this journey where you were focusing on yourself. It’s there that they join you and become not only a partner but a friend and companion for life.

While whether God truly makes one true companions for each and every individual is scientifically debatable, I believe he places people in our lives that are good for us. I’m a 19-year-old and I sincerely could not care any less about who I will marry someday at this point in time in my life. Sure, it occasionally crosses my mind (I’m a total girly-girl, OK.)

However, I’m focused on my grades, my future career, and becoming a better me.

All I know is that someday when He sees it fit, He’ll place a man in my life who complements me in every shape and form. It’s just about trusting in the plan God has in store for us. Regardless of the one we have for ourselves, we must see His bigger picture.