This is a great question and I have a great deal to say about it.
I am a 21-year-old boy and I always preferred being on my own. I must confess that I abandoned my virginity because of the society which blames you if you do something different ....if you are different.
Today, after two years, I regret for losing my virginity in that easy way.
I have never been in a loving and healthy relationship. As someone has already said on here, I built a relationship but it was not a relationship. She was manipulative and she felt my weakness and was taking advantage of it more and more. Yet, I needed love and she knew it and I fell in love in spite of everything, in spite of the fact I did know she did not love me, truly. I did know she just wanted my money and I suspected a lot she had another boyfriend. Still, I was deeply in love with her. I loved her to bits. I have never had any friends and my parents got divorced a few years ago and maybe unconsciously that troubled me ....for life.
When I broke up with this girl, I felt a big hole inside of me. A big hole that I have always been scared of feeling. Perhaps, it is because I did not want to face the truth - I have got a different life from that of my other peers and I am deeply alone.
I felt I could not deal with the heartache and I felt so even more sad. That is when I wondered how come I was so sad for having been in a relationship unless my past. I have just got out of my first relationship and I should be happy since it changed my life. Then, I realised it would have been better if I had been alone.
Before losing my virginity I could not care less about being alone. It was not due to my immaturity [actually, I have always been told to be more grown up, psychologically speaking], but because I thought relationships are all good at first but then they got worse as they go along. If you think about it, that is totally true. Every relationship is that way.
Moreover, I have got social anxiety so it is even more difficult to have a relationship for me. That is one more reason to be alone.
Nowadays, after the break-up and the sufferance, I got back to be who I was.
I prefer to be alone and live on my own. I do know I will not be able to deal with another heartache and I do not know whether I will be ever able to have another relationship.
I am better off alone, without a partner or friends. I do not care about marriage [which most of the times leads to divorce, waste of money and children]. Hence, I am not giving up on love - it is just that I do not care a damn about it. That is it.
UK