9 Ways Your Single Friends Are Bad Influences

9 Ways Your Single Friends Are Bad Influences ©iStock/Rawpixel

Sometimes it feels like being able to rehash an awful date over sweet potato fries and beers with your BFFs is your only reason for living. This ritual is even better when the women you call your biggest supporters are also flying solo, since they truly get what you’re going through. However, sometimes they can be the problem. Here are 9 ways your single friends can be a bad influence on you and your dating life:

  1. Thinking every date will go badly. If being single means going on a lot of dates, it also means going on a lot of bad dates. We all hate this part of the quest for true love but there’s just no way around it. Unfortunately, sometimes when you tell your friends that you’re meeting someone at our favorite bar on Friday night, they don’t exactly welcome the idea with open arms. They snort and say the look forward to the funny story, basically assuming that it’s going to suck. This can be super annoying when you’re trying to stay positive.
  2. Enjoying male-bashing too much. Every single woman is guilty of making fun of the opposite sex sometimes (okay, more than sometimes). You’re not proud of it but can’t help it – guys can act from strange to boring to just plain old creepy, and you share the tales with your best friends. Your single friends are 100 percent bad influences if they enjoy these stories a little too much and seem to think there are “no good ones left” and that every guy is a total loser.
  3. Expecting to be single forever. We’re all afraid of being alone for our entire lives – if we’re not, we would be totally lying. Sometimes your friends start talking about how they would be completely okay with that – they love their lives, their careers, their dogs. If you’re not interested in being by yourself for the rest of your life and really want true love, this kind of conversation is bound to get on your nerves after a while.
  4. Going on an extended dating hiatus. We all need a break from the dating game every once in a while. When you feel super burned out and like you can’t possibly drink another glass of red wine across from a complete stranger, you know it’s time for a dating hiatus. Your friends can be a bad influence when they take a dating break and it ends up being longer than ever before. Of course they can do whatever they want but soon all they’re going to talk about is how done with dating they are and you’re going to get pretty bored pretty fast.
  5. Setting expectations super high. Some of us swear by deal breakers, others don’t believe in them at all. But no matter what side of the debate you’re on, you still have expectations of some sort about the kind of person you want to be with. Your single friends, however, might have even higher expectations. They hate everyone they go out with (literally everyone) and after a while their attitude becomes “why should I date, I never like anyone.” Not the most inspiring friendship environment when you’re committed to finding The One.
  6. Living by The Rules. Ah, the rules. By now we all know that there are really no rules when it comes to love and that playing by outdated ideas of how men and women are supposed to behave is no way to get what you want. Tell this to your single friends. They still put too much pressure on guys and want you to do the same. All you wanted was to share a cute text that your new guy sent you and now your friends are overanalyzing every moment of your courtship so far. It’s enough to drive you crazy.
  7. Going on a downward spiral. Let’s face it, sometimes being single just totally sucks and we can get into some pretty dark places if we don’t stop ourselves. We start spending too much time alone, accepting what we think is our fate, and refusing to let anyone lift our spirits. Sometimes one of your single friends starts exhibiting this kind of negative behavior and while you love them and will always be there for them, no one would blame if you want to scream at them to snap out of it already.
  8. Overscheduling. We’re all busy. We’ve established that. Your single friends, however, bring a whole new meaning to the term “overscheduled.” They sign up for courses, they work out every night of the week, they even protect their beloved alone time in front of Netflix. This is all to prove that they don’t need a boyfriend, they’re perfectly happy on their own. Which is all well and good, but after a while it starts seeming like an excuse for not dating.
  9. Being unsupportive. You love your BFFs, of course you do, and yet they just can’t be happy whenever you actually have a good date and seem to be on the road to a relationship (whether an almost one or a real one). They say they haven’t had a good date in so long they don’t even remember what it’s like. You get the feeling that they want you to stay single so you can all be on the same page, but of course that’s pretty crazy. They’ll come around… hopefully.
Aya Tsintziras is a freelance lifestyle writer and editor from Toronto, Canada. In addition to writing about dating and relationships for Bolde, she also writes about movies, TV, and video games for ScreenRant and GameRant. She has a Political Science degree from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Journalism from Ryerson University. You can find her on Twitter @ayatsintziras and on Instagram @aya.tsintziras.
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