Are you single? Yes? How dare you! Are you worried people are whispering behind your back wondering if you’re gay because you don’t have a girlfriend? You should be, because they are! Do you feel pressured to find your “true love” so people will stop staring awkwardly at you and thinking of you as the weird one at family get togethers? Of course you do! Well I’m here to say,”No More!” Because being a single man is a gift, not a pockmark (I’m talking single by choice, not single cause you creep chicks out).

Our North American culture has created a stigma on the perception of the single life. Through TV, movies, music, magazines, etc. pop culture floods our lives with romantic scenarios of adults seeking love, romance, and long term relationships, while at the same time showing singles as vulnerable, awkward, and just plain weird. These stories seem benign but the message that the single man is incomplete until he finds a girlfriend is absurd. The false reality of needing someone is fueled by Hollywood’s ultimate marketing job and the stigma surrounding the single life. There’s a pressure for men and women to pair up and live happily ever after. But, as most of us know, Happily Ever After is a fraud. We’re all told we have to have a wife, girlfriend, life partner, someone, but, as Larry David says, I wish I could call my wife my partner, she’s really more of a rival.

My question is,”Why?” Not every man is suited to be in a long term relationship (most of us aren’t). And that’s fine. Let’s face facts, a lot of men are too selfish to maintain a healthy LTR. But they try anyway and end up being miserable. Sure there can be things you’ll miss from a relationship, such as knowing you’re gonna go home to someone who loves you (but for whatever reason is pissed at you), and there’s loneliness (nothing a cat, some good friends, and a PS3 can’t cure), but there are benefits of being single, too, like going out and coming home when ever you want, walking around the house nude, bookmarking your porn, having chicks and friends over whenever, basically freedom (am I the only one who finds it ironic that William Wallace in Braveheart was so mad at England for trying to take his freedom after they killed his wife?).

Those raised in a traditional family environment have the blueprint for building a successful LTR or marriage. They grew up in it. But that blueprint is about to change as those in their 30s, those who are now at the age where they are positioned to change the world, come from Generation DP (divorced parents) where our vision of the family experience is as damaged as a hooker’s self image. My years have taught me that this succesful LTR illusion is just that, an illusion. One that sells so easily because the prospect of loneliness can be so god damned depressing. Being single isn’t something to be ashamed of. You don’t need to be with someone. The only person you need to be with and love is you. That’s right. So go ahead, look in the mirror, see that good looking guy? He’s pretty confident, isn’t he? And don’t be shy to look him in the eyes and say, “You complete me.”