Foreword
This isn’t an article I’ve written because I have all the answers.
It’s an article I’ve written because I’m living it.
Like many people, I’ve experienced relationships that taught me incredible lessons. Looking back, there were times when I settled for less than what truly aligned with who I was. There were moments when I looked outside myself for things that could only be built within. Those experiences weren’t failures—they were teachers.
Today, I find myself in a season of being single, and instead of seeing it as something to escape, I’m choosing to see it as an opportunity. An opportunity to heal. To grow. To strengthen my health, my mindset, my purpose, and my relationship with myself.
As I wrote these words, I wasn’t writing from a place of perfection. I was writing from a place of practice. These are reminders I return to myself just as much as they may encourage someone else.
I believe that every season has a purpose. Sometimes life asks us to build careers. Sometimes it asks us to grieve, to let go, or to rediscover who we are. And sometimes it invites us to become whole before asking us to share our lives with another person.
If anything in these pages resonates with you, take what serves you and leave the rest. My hope is simply that these reflections encourage you to trust your own journey, honor your own growth, and remember that becoming the right person is often the path to finding the right relationship.
After all, the relationship you build with yourself is the one that every other relationship will be built upon.
Article:
There is a season in life when the greatest act of love isn’t finding someone else—it’s finding yourself.
Stay single if that’s where life has you right now. Use this time intentionally. Build yourself. Heal. Grow. Become someone you genuinely admire. Trust that the universe has a remarkable way of bringing the right people into our lives when we’re ready to recognize them.
The strongest relationships are not built by two people searching for someone to complete them. They are built by two whole people who have already learned how to stand on their own. When two healthy, grounded individuals come together, they don’t fill each other’s emptiness—they multiply each other’s strengths.
This season is an opportunity.
Heal the parts of yourself that have been wounded. Let go of old stories that no longer serve you. Break patterns that keep leading you back to the same painful experiences. Every lesson you embrace today becomes wisdom that protects your future.
Invest in yourself.
Build your health. Care for your body because it’s the vessel you’ll live in every day. Strengthen your mindset by challenging limiting beliefs and choosing perspectives that create peace instead of fear. Discover or deepen your purpose, because a meaningful life is one of the most attractive qualities a person can possess.
Building yourself isn’t about becoming perfect. It’s about becoming intentional. It’s learning to take ownership of your life instead of waiting for someone else to change it for you. It’s becoming emotionally available, financially responsible, physically healthy, spiritually grounded, and intellectually curious. Growth isn’t about arriving at perfection—it’s about continually becoming a better version of who you were yesterday.
Build your health. Care for your body because it’s the vessel you’ll live in every day. Strengthen your mindset by challenging limiting beliefs and choosing perspectives that create peace instead of fear. Discover or deepen your purpose, because a meaningful life is one of the most attractive qualities a person can possess.
The right relationship should never become your entire identity.
It should complement the life you’ve already built. It should encourage your dreams, not replace them. It should inspire your growth, not distract you from it.
Stop chasing attention from people who only recognize your worth when it’s convenient for them. Real love doesn’t appear only when someone is lonely, bored, or looking for validation. Your value doesn’t increase because someone finally notices you, and it doesn’t decrease because someone fails to.
Raise your standards before you lower your loneliness.
Most people don’t settle because they’re weak. They settle because they’re afraid. Afraid of being alone. Afraid that no one better will come along. Afraid that time is running out. But decisions made from fear rarely lead to peace. When you begin making choices from self-worth instead of scarcity, you stop asking, “Will someone choose me?” and start asking, “Does this relationship truly align with the life I’m creating?”
Loneliness is temporary. Settling can shape years of your life.
Every time you choose yourself instead of accepting less than you deserve, you reinforce the belief that your peace matters. And peace is one of life’s greatest gifts.
As you continue growing, something beautiful happens. Your perspective changes. You become less attracted to chaos and more drawn to consistency, honesty, kindness, and emotional maturity. The people who once seemed exciting may no longer feel aligned, while those who bring calm, encouragement, and authenticity become far more attractive.
Growth changes what feels like home.
So focus on becoming the kind of person you would want to spend your life with. Become someone who is emotionally available, compassionate, resilient, curious, and deeply aligned with your own values.
Then, when the right person enters your life, they won’t rescue you from an incomplete life.
They’ll walk beside you as you continue building one that’s already meaningful.
The healthiest relationships don’t pull you away from your purpose.
They strengthen it.
And perhaps that’s the greatest gift of all—not finding someone to complete your journey, but finding someone who is excited to walk beside you as you both continue becoming the people you were meant to be.
Being whole doesn’t mean you’ve healed every wound or figured out every answer. It doesn’t mean life becomes effortless or that you’ll never experience loneliness again. It means you’ve stopped expecting another person to carry responsibilities that belong to you. You’ve learned to create your own peace, take ownership of your own growth, and build a life that feels meaningful on its own. From that place, love becomes something you choose to share—not something you desperately need to survive.
With love,
Gage