12 Reasons You're Afraid to Get Into a Relationship (and Why You Need to Just Chill)

4. You're afraid that love doesn't work.

Maybe you never saw successful couples when you were young, or maybe your parents got along so well you thought, "No way will I get that lucky!" Either way, you can't give up. Love never works perfectly all the time, but that doesn't mean it's not the best thing you will ever experience — the bad and the good makes that so.

5. You're afraid you're too busy.

If you are afraid to enter a relationship because you don't think you have time, there is a much bigger problem, here, and it has nothing to do with relationships. You are hiding behind your work/hobby/Law & Order obsession! What are you afraid of? If your job is standing in the way of the possibility of you feeling happy and fulfilled in a relationship and in love, what else will it stand in the way of? Your sanity? Your health? Your passion for metallurgy?

6. You're afraid you won't find this one exact person who might not exist or be right for you anyway.

It is really good to have high standards. But! Sometimes we look for someone in particular for weird reasons. Say, you thought you would be with a creative person, or you assumed you were strictly partial to blondes, or you had in your mind that you were only attracted to Kal Penn-lookalikes after seeing The Namesake in 2007. (His lips: I die.) Tear that all away. You will be glad you did.

7. You're afraid of a faux annoyance.

I'm not saying to ignore your relationship annoyances. I'm saying you should explore them really, really closely. Are they leading to actual, legitimate reasons for concern? Say the guy you have been seeing always wears socks with sandals. That is weird. And it drives you crazy and makes you uncomfortable and makes you think "ehh I don't… aaaa… he...socks with sandals! Always? I can't take him anywhere!" But something like that doesn't matter. Embrace this guy and his footwear.

8. You're afraid of leaving your family.

My mom used to yell at me because I was kind of depending on her to fill some of my boyfriend requirements, like being there for me, caring for me when I was sick/stressed/sad, talking to me on the phone, sending me funny pictures of cats, etc. I also never thought I would find a guy my family approved of, so I sort of let being in a relationship become, like, my 40th priority. I know that people do this with their parents and siblings. I know a few people who have had terrible tragedies in their families and felt this invisible pull to defend and dedicate themselves completely to their families until the end of time. I don't know what that is like and I don't want to pretend to, but I do know this: your family members are going to go out and finding relationships for themselves, or they already have. You deserve that, too. Your family will still be there for you, and they will be happy for you. (I wish someone would have pounded this into my brain years ago.)