A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.

That's one of my favorite quotes, partially because my mom started drilling it into my head at a very young age. I was always raised to be fiercely independent, and to shun the oldfashioned notion that a woman needs a man to take care of her.

Now, I'm single, and I'm trying hard to resist getting caught up in all of the relationship drama going on around me. I'm always hearing gossip from my friends about unrequited love, and about who had sex with whom, and about who's in love with whom. It makes me feel like my life is somehow incomplete without someone by my side. The social norm in my generation is that if you aren't in a relationship, you should be looking for one. Women who are focused on their own lives, instead of searching for Prince Charming, are looked upon poorly. Think about your typical Katherine Heigl movie, for example. Career-driven women who don't search for a man are portrayed as "missing something." I'm sick of it.

As much as I would enjoy the companionship and stability of a relationship, I'm perfectly fine without one. No matter how hard society tries to turn me into one of those desperate, clingy women you see in romantic comedies, wasting all of their time searching for someone to tolerate their mood swings and irrational insecurites, I won't cave. I have excellent friends, a loving and caring family, and most importantly, I'm happy with myself. As long as I can fall asleep at night knowing I'm a good person who lives an awesome life, why should I stress over being single?

After all, a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.