When in the city of 'Love'

Ive decided against putting a title of 'I'm Back' or similar for this post, because I think they're actually a bit of a bad omen. Every time I post one of those, the next post has the same themed title, just worded a little differently! So for this, we are going to pretend that I haven't been away for the last 4 months, and this is just a regular day with a generic post.

I've recently been spending my time in Venice, very fancy pants I know *inserts sassy hand emoji here*. In my opinion Venice is fab for 4 things; pizza & pasta (these two come as a pair and therefore only really count for 1 of the 4) vino, gelato and love of course. Now as much as I'd love to describe the large influx of carbs and alcohol that has entered my body over the last 2 weeks, the post would probably be over in a paragraph and I'd be too busy in a food coma to be bothered to write the rest...or drunk.

So what does a single lady who is in Venice on her own (for a few nights) do with herself. Other than eat my body weight in pizza, pasta and ice cream...DRINKS LOTS OF WINE! I joke, but yes I did do all of these things, multiple times. However, thats not what I'm about to write about, nor am I going to write about the amount of times I need to go to the gym to work all of that off. No, no I am, as they say: going to "reflect" on being single in the city of love.

The Italian inspirations, plus some other posts I have read recently on this topic are my main influences for this (jesus I sound like I'm writing an evaluation of my work!). Nevertheless, being away from home, independent and living a different way of life (they don't have roads in Venice so it must be all the walking and water taxis that have got me so in tune with my inner self *laughs*) has got me realising some great things.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not some spiteful bitter old hag, I'm not going and hating on love like you might think. I'm celebrating those in it, but also those who are without it and happy as themselves on their own. I've always been a strong believer in the saying that you've got to be happy with yourself, being on your own and your own company, before you can be happy with anyone else. I know myself that before taking some time out, I wasn't. I was kind of afraid of not having anyone, not having the stability of another human by my side incase I needed it. But now look at me, I'm hoping over to Venice alone! It's safe to say I've overcome that minor speed bump, and those around me will certainly say I'm a lot happier and more positive in doing so.

I'm 21 and I overhear conversations around me worrying about being alone forever, or when they should invest in their first cat. I know I'm always asked whether I have a new man, or what happened to the last one, so no wonder some of us feel the social pressures and expectations of women today. Quite honestly though, as a girl, the amount of heartache I've witnessed from friends, and personally. It's no wonder I'm in no hurry to cling to the closest male who comes my way. Its pretty fun not having the responsibilities of someone elses' happiness. I know that makes me sound cynical and mean, but if you can't be selfish when you're in your twenties with no responsibilities, then when can you?

I'm totally game for meeting 'the one' or 'prince charming', but in the meantime, my message to myself (and whoever else is mad enough to take my advice) is to stop worrying about when the purchase of your first cat is going to be, or what you look like on a night out incase "the one" is watching (highly unlikely) and go and have fun! Don't waste time holding back because a guy has shown the slightest bit of interest and you're worried you might mess it up or that in a weeks time he's not going to be interested anymore. Play the field (if thats your kind of thing), indulge in whatever makes you happy regardless of anyone else, and STOP WORRYING. Because like everyone always says, its when you're least expecting it, that it comes along!

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