Mondays Are For...

Getting What You Want.

And here is what I want today: I want guys that I am not interested in to stop calling me, texting me, and trying to get me to hang out with them.

I can not possibly come up with any more excuses as to why I can not go to dinner or go to the movies with these guys. Sure, it is true that I have been spending a majority of my time applying to graduate programs and looking for jobs. And yes, I often have plans with my family and friends. But it is also true that if I felt like these were guys that I wanted to spend time with, I would probably make some time for them. But the incessant text messages are driving me crazy. Therefore, since my excuses have not deterred these guys in any way, I am moving on to Step 2. Not responding.

I can not place all of the blame on the guys, though. I have been partly responsible for getting myself into this situation. First of all, I'm a nice girl. I try to avoid hurting peoples' feelings... even those of people that I have no interest in having any kind of relationship with. So instead of telling someone "I'm not interested in going to dinner with you," I say something like "I'm sorry, I can't... I'm really busy with these graduate school applications." Second, I have continuously fallen victim to the guilt tactics that these boys use, whether it is a note that says "I'm still in love with you," or a box of gourmet cupcakes. For some reason, I have let these boys make me feel like I owe it to them to text them back, or to have dinner with them. But why do I owe anybody, but myself, anything? The answer is plain and simple: I don't.

So why would a single girl like me be willing to pass up all this attention from some moderately handsome guys? Truthfully, I like being on my own, and I mean that in the least and most selfish ways possible. The least selfish way being that I'd like to take the time to get to know myself better, and to be happy on my own before I jump back into another relationship. The most selfish ways possible being that I like my privacy, I like sleeping in the middle of my queen-sized bed, I like being able to book a trip to Vegas with my friends without having to consider anybody else, and I like not having to compromise. So I'm not going to, because those are the kind of decisions that you get to make when you're single.