When all your friends are in relationships
Being a teenager is hard, we’re not going to lie to you. Between finding your style, your friends and constantly being told you need your life sorted out, it isn’t all fun and games like they told us on Disney Channel.
And in the midst of all this, your friends are turning around with new relationships. It can be a pretty lonely time when your friends are all loved up with their new boyfriends or girlfriends. As if you don’t feel like an alien already, now all these people around you are in their own little love bubbles and you’re on the outside looking in.
It’s normal to feel weird
It’s completely normal to feel a bit strange when you’re the only single friend. Realising that you’re getting older and the people around you are changing is a crazy time in your life. But know there should never be any pressure on you to jump into a relationship just to follow the crowds. Yes, teenage romance can be fun, but it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Between school, study and your own hobbies, you have enough on your plate without the stress of a relationship just because your friends are in them.
You’ll have more time for yourself…and that’s okay
When your friends are all loved up, it’ll probably feel like they have no time for you. Let’s be honest, as teenagers there’s never enough spare time, and now the time you were once spending with your friend is solo time as they hang out with their new beau.
You can of course spend that newly found free time in bed watching The Edge of Seventeen and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (we’ve all been there). Or, you could catch up with some old friends. It might feel like it, but you’re not the only single teenager in your school. So instead of staying home waiting for love (or the lack of…), why not see if that girl you sit next to in maths fancies a coffee on Saturday or a walk. Just because your friends’ social lives are now revolving around their new relationship doesn’t mean yours has to as well.
Be there for your friend
When a lot of people get into their first relationship, they have a tendency to lose the run of themselves and forget who was there for them before. Especially if their new boyfriend or girlfriend is in a different friend group or school. They’ve been opened to this whole new world, and might forget who was there for them when they needed them. I can guarantee you this feels miserable, and even if it means you’re watching from afar, it’s important you stay there for your friend. According to research done in America, less than 2% of High School relationships last, with most lasting between a year and eighteen months. If your friend is in that 2% – great! But the odds are that if or when the relationship breaks down, they’ll need their friends more than ever. It might be pretty rubbish now, but being there for your friends is always the most important thing.
