By: Megan Watson
Cuddles, Christmas gifts, kisses under the mistletoe, the time for young hopefuls to join the bandwagon and rush to the nearest potential in hopes to fill the empty void of the wretched single life: cuffing season has officially begun. If you have not used your time wisely throughout Fall to find your latest recruits and draft your top MVP’s, you’re too late. Look around you, if you have not noticed, people are suddenly “in love” and are already swapping sweaters to display their new relationships.
Watching all these happy couples makes me wonder however, are these relationships grounded in true attraction, or are they rooted in an individual’s need to be apart of the mob mentality of needing to be in a relationship to be happy?
The Winter season, for a single, is a constant reminder that on these cold nights you have no one to keep you warm. Especially throughout Winter breaks and holiday visits, the idea of being alone refers back to the biological need to survive. Studies show that in the times of the caveman, surviving Winter meant finding another person to partner up with in order to stay warm. Thus, it is embedded into our heads that being alone or single during December, can lead to our destruction.
Obviously we as humans have evolved and majority of us no longer have to worry about Darwin’s survival of the fittest during winter nights. Yet, every year, more and more people are participating in the ideals of cuffing season and rushing into relationships. The biggest reason for this is the necessity for humans to feel inclusive; in order for us to be apart of the social construct of being happy, we must broadcast it for everyone to see. What better display than having another human showing to the world that you are in fact a good person and worth being in a relationship with. We are sucked into this mob mentality that being in a relationship is an equivalent to us being happy. Thus, when you are single, you are perceived as alone, and you are lonely. One thing that everyone can agree on: being lonely is not a good feeling.
So going back to my question, are these relationships genuine or will they end just as quickly as they began when the sun starts shining?
The simple answer is no, they will not remain together for the fact that being lonely is a temporary feeling and your high school fling will not be your soulmate. Alone and lonely are not synonymous to each other and this ideology that you need to be in relationship to be happy throughout the Winter is not real.
I am not saying you should never be in a relationship, or that you should not be in one during the Winter, but find a way to be comfortable in being alone. Be happy with yourself and choose yourself for winter.
Tags: column, cuffingseason, dating, love, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood journalism, winterseason