The advantages of being single help you appreciate what's good about your life
The advantages of being single are something we rarely think about.
Most of the time we're too busy moping about the disadvantages of the single life. This site helps you deal with some of those.
Being on your own has its good points sometimes. I tend to take them for granted until one of my married friends reminds me. Don't get me wrong. I'd rather be married, but life is much happier when you learn to see your glass as half full instead of half empty.
We have more time
One of the advantages of being single is having more time to do what you want. Instead of looking at it as time you have to fill, look at it as freedom.
When you're single, you can take night classes or further your education without worrying about neglecting your spouse. More education can mean a better job or more money.
Sometimes you just want to attend a workshop or seminar, or enroll in an evening class for your own pleasure. Learning broadens your perspective and also puts you in touch with interesting people.
Extra time also lets you pursue your hobby as vigorously as you'd like. You can work on crafts or collections at home, do research in a library, or go to a club or meet with others who have the same interest. I find hobbies a super way to relieve stress. Even if I get married, I'll still want to pursue my hobbies and I'll want my wife to keep hers.
Finally, you have time for reading. Reading is one of the greatest pleasures in life, but it's something you have to do alone, or at least you need to be able to concentrate on it. You can't do that if your spouse is sitting across the room giving you the old "stink-eye."
You can enjoy your friends guilt-free
Another of the advantages of being single is our friends. They help get us through hard times, support us emotionally, and just plain make life more fun.
The trouble is, many single people abandon their friends when they get married. Now it's true that your spouse should be your best friend, but it's cruel to give up on your friends. If you get married, yes, your status has changed. You're no longer single and no longer "one of us," but your spouse shouldn't be jealous of your friends, either.
We single people can enjoy our friends and don't have to worry about such conflicts.
Everyone needs time with friends of their same gender. Women need time with the girls and men need time with the boys. Our friends of our gender understand us in ways a spouse never can. There's a "sisterhood" or "brotherhood" that we need. Appreciating that and enjoying it is one of the advantages of being single.
You can spend money the way you like
Yet another of the advantages of being single is being able to spend money the way you want. That is a major issue in life.
Now anyone who has read many pages on this site or who receives my monthly Inspire-O-Gram newsletter knows I advise singles to be careful with their money. We can't buy our way to happiness and we can't solve our singles' problems with gift lift.
Be that as it may, married people have to agree on how they're going to handle money. I know of one couple who divorced partly because she was a saver and he was a spender. When you're single, you don't have that problem.
It's foolish to spend all the time and not save anything, but on the other hand, it kills the fun in life if you act like a miser. We singles have the advantage of not having anyone nag at us about money. Except maybe me.
Set something aside for an emergency. Plan for your retirement. Be wise. But appreciate the fact that no one jumps you for every purchase, nor does anyone whine when you save.
This is a rare privilege we singles have, not to be overlooked.
You can spend more time with God
Of all the advantages of being single, this is the one I love the most. I don't have to divide my time between a spouse and God. I can give God as much time as I want.
My #1 goal in life is an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm able to speak and listen to him more often because I'm single.
Only a Christian spouse can understand that need, and even so, conflicts will come up. We singles don't have to deal with that. We can give Jesus our undivided attention.
During the course of a normal week, I go to church on the weekend, I read the Bible every morning while I eat breakfast, I read a book on Christian living, I watch some Christian TV, and I work on this Christian web site. Oh, and I pray throughout the day and evening.
That's a lot of Jesus!
I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of him. He loves me and I love him and we love spending time together.
If you want to get closer to God, you can do this as a single person and you don't have to make excuses or explain yourself to anyone. You just do it. You have your priorities straight in life and let me guarantee you, you'll find tremendous fulfillment in it.
You may find this hard to understand or maybe even fanatical if you're not a Christian. You may be among the thousands of singles who visit this site who practice no religion or are not Christian. Based on our holy book, The Bible, here's a very short summary of what Christians believe.
If you are a Christian single, thank God for this extra time he gives you with him. It's a blessing!
A final thought...
Despite all the advantages of being single, I'd rather be married. That's honest.
Maybe, like me, you've heard sermons preached on "the gift of singleness." They make me angry. They're usually preached by a married pastor who's forgotten what it's like to be single.
And yet, as much as I'd like to be married, my life is not bad. It's good. Sometimes I'm lonely. Sometimes I'm depressed. I even get angry sometimes because I haven't found a wife. But I also am thankful for these advantages of being single.
I hope you'll give these some thought and try to use them to make your life happier. Being single is not an unnatural way to live. It's just a different way from being married.
When you go to bed tonight, thank God that he loves you. Tell him you love him too. And tomorrow morning, instead of seeing limitations, look at the opportunities in your life. You have many.
