How much time have you spent being single?

Most of my life. I've had two serious relationships and one complicated one, none lasting more than six months. My last relationship ended in late 2019, so it's been 4.5 years. I'm 33 this year, and have been single for about 31 years total.

If you’re currently single: is it by choice or circumstance?

Bit of both. I choose not to invest my time, money, and energy into pursuing a relationship, but sometimes that choice feels forced because I don't have enough time, money, or energy to spare for pursuing a relationship. If it happens, it happens, but I'm not proactive about it because I'm focusing on work and my hobbies. If I ever find myself financially stable without working full time I might have time to actively pursue a relationship, but that's not in the cards right now for my autistic ass. I spend almost all my free time recovering so I can go back to work.

I joined a LARP community and I go to board game and DnD meetups specifically to meet people and keep my social muscles healthy. Hopefully I'll find a partner in those circles someday, but no luck so far. The unfortunate reality is that every girl I meet is already in a relationship. I have made a lot of friends, so mission accomplished as far as that goes, but the folks who say that joining hobby groups and hanging out with people who share your interests is the best way to find a partner are full of shit.

Finally, both of my serious relationships ended on good terms because my partner felt I did not communicate enough with them, while I felt the amount of communication they were expecting was too much for me to maintain, which made the relationship a source of stress and anxiety for me. We broke it off, and I'm still good friends with one of them. This is a problem with me that I'm not sure how to fix, and it's very much not conducive to a healthy relationship. I hope I can find a partner who's comfortable with that some day, but it's made me leery of jumping into new relationships.

Do you / did you enjoy single life?

No, but I don't enjoy dating life, either. Life in general is an unending stream of demands, and I never get enough time to stop, breath, and reset. That's true while I'm single, and it was true while I was dating.

What are / were the pros and cons?

Pros:

• My living space is my own. Everything stays exactly where I left it, and I can decorate as I please.
• I eat when and what I want. I can cook or eat out as I choose. Meals don't need to be a production, and if I want to stock up and eat the same thing for weeks on end there's no one to complain about it.
• My time is my own. I can schedule things whenever and I don't need to coordinate calendars. If I need to travel for work I can drop everything and just go.
• No fucking kids. My niece, nephew, and soon to be 2nd nephew are plenty.

Cons:

• I'm so lonely. So very lonely.
• Porn addiction. I have a high sex drive, no healthy outlet for it, and it's an easy dopamine hit for stress and anxiety relief.
• Financial stress. I'm barely getting by on a single income.
• Constantly questioning my identity. I think I'm some flavor of aromantic sex-positive asexual, and I suspect I'm bi and/or trans, but I've got no partner to explore my own gender and sexuality with. It's hard to tell how much is real and how much is my mind spinning off the rails with nothing to latch on to.

Is / was partnership a goal of yours?

Yes. I'd like to settle down with a fellow introvert so we can be alone together.