“Maybe love is something we’re meant to say casually and not regard as a prize from a treasure chest that a person earns.” ― Jen Glantz

Sometimes it’s hard to escape. You’ll open up a fresh webpage and load your Facebook newsfeed, look down at a text message that’s over accessorized in exclamation points, bump into an old friend on the street just to find out—again and again—that all your friends are engaged. In my life, this started to become somewhat of a trend the year after I graduated from college.

While I was hopping from job to job, from state to state, from terrible first date to back home on my couch with a pint of ice cream, a lot of my friends were cozying up to charming men they had somehow been lucky enough to meet. When the first wave of photos that displayed scrawny fingers dazzled in diamonds hit my social media, I asked myself simply and ridiculously: What’s wrong with me? All before asking myself: Why am I not them? And do I even want to be in their spot, now?

And that’s when I decided to name my collection of dating disaster stories, All My Friends are Engaged.

When it comes to love and marriage and finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life with—through expanding waistlines and wrinkles—you can’t feel rushed. There shouldn’t be a timeline or a deadline and no matter what, you shouldn’t settle down just to settle. After many stern talks with myself in front of mirrors displaying a face filled with worry and single girl woes, I began to accept the fact that single just means one thing: I’m going to be okay.

I just hope when my “big day” comes around, my friends will still be agile enough to do the electric slide with me at my wedding.

So go for it. Comment below by filling in the blank and rock your single life:

All my friends are engaged and I’m _________.  

Check the book out on Amazon & iBooks–It’s the same price as a delicious slice of NYC pizza!