Timelines and expectations drive our culture. You must do x, y, and z by the time you are this age or you are not considered successful. You know what I’m talking about to, so don’t front! We all have things we expect to accomplish by a certain time and when it doesn’t happen, we have a tendency to freak out a little. I wanted to be a millionaire rapper by the time I was 30, didn’t happen. Still stings a little when I think about it. I often hear women talk about what I call the “double major timeline.” The double major timeline is the one that requires you to get a BS (or college degree) and MRS (fiancée or super serious boo-thang) at the same time. There is a lot of social and cultural pressure for young women to have a serious suitor by the time they complete college or soon there after. This pressure doesn’t exist at all for men. With two opposing goals for young adult relationships, it can be hard out there for a sister. Moreover, if you listen to the hype, it gets harder to develop significant relationships outside of the 23 – 27 age range. DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE! Mrs me with that foolishness!! There are plenty of things you should be doing during the college/young adult stage of your life that will benefit you more than finding a fiance!!*
MRS
VS
BS
Here are 3 Things More Important than Finding a Husband during the College/Young Adult years
1. Kicking Butt in College/Career! – As a college speaker, it would amaze you how many times I speak with students doing the bare minimum in school! Get your Life! Studies show that students that excel in college are more likely to be successful in their careers and life in general. Makes sense, but common sense ain’t common. Also, people with successful careers are more likely to be married, just an FYI. Having an intense focus on your career in the very beginning can pay off large dividends in the future. In the words of my LB Keylan Morgan, “sometimes you need to have a healthy unbalanced work/life situation where work wins now so you can have a healthy unbalanced work/life situation where life wins in the future.”
2. Finding Yourself – What do you like? I mean what do you really like, when you are not worried about impressing someone. For most of us, the young adult/college years are our first time on our own. It’s the first time our parents can tell us something and we can take it as a strong suggestion and not an ironclad demand. We are forming the habits that will likely shape the people we will become. It might be a good idea to know who you are independent of anyone but GOD. It’s important to know who you are and what you like before you get involved in a relationship. Also, having a sense of self is a healthy sign that you are ready for a relationship.
3. Find a Passion/Ministry/Hobby – You will never have more free time then you do during this time in your life. You have mad gaps in your schedule!! Fill them up with an activity or cause you are passionate about. Find a ministry at church. Our ultimate purpose is to DO WORK!! God calls us to action. Most believers struggle with finding a ministry because they are trying to squeeze things into an already full life. Remember those habits I said you were forming in #2? This is an opportunity to form a habit of balancing ministry and life so it will be less difficult as you add more things to your plate.Give back to the community. Pick a hobby or sport like golf or tennis…something!! These are great times to learn something new, do something different, travel, read, study, etc. Find out what it really means to DO YOU!
VS
It’s important that the cultural pressures to conform do not consume you. I know that everything that is tossed in your face is telling you that you need a man. Mrs me with that foolishness! Think like a Man, How to get Man, How to Marry a Man, Why Sisters can’t get a Man. Mrs me with that foolishness! You are significant and relevant without a man. You don’t need a man to complete you or to achieve success. Marriage is dope, but it ain’t for everybody. It ain’t for the weak at heart either. I know I make my wife question her sanity at least twice a month! There are no deadlines for the events in your life. Everything happens in God’s time. Focus on becoming a Virtuous Woman and God will take care of the rest.
*Disclaimer – I’m not suggesting that you can’t or won’t find the love of your life during your college/young adult years, but if you don’t, it’s not the end of the world.
What are some other things more important than getting your MRS during your college/young adult years? Do you think it’s important to find a partner before a certain age? Why? What is the cut-off age?
The Writerz Block 
Just like any commodity with limited supply, the longer one waits to purchase it, the more expensive it is and/or less desirable the commodity is. Example: sports tickets to game 7s. (The closer it gets to gametime, the good seats are all gone and you’re paying $500 for 2 nosebleeds)
Same thing for significant others. If you’re 40, the only available options are society’s less desirables (translation: the ugly ones or the divorcees). On the other hand, marriages that begin too young (before graduation or right after) end too often in divorce.
Using a carefully derived formula of several personal accounts, hops, malt, barley, water and barstools, optimal spousal selection has been calculated thusly: 25<=serious relationship needed, 27<=living together, 30<=rings
Using a carefully derived formula of several personal accounts, hops, malt, barley, water and barstools,
^^^^ this is the best thing ever. This needs to be patented! match.com ain’t got nothing on that formula.
Interesting. I have to agree with you that women experience a pressure that men are fortunate not to have to deal with (as much) when it comes to being in a serious relationship that is supposed to lead to marriage. Ironically, it is other women pressuring other women about being single. Fortunately, I was raised in such a way that I don’t feel worthless when not in a relationship and have even accepted the possibility that marriage may not be in my future. Not to say that I don’t want to get married or don’t think I’m marriageable but just that nothing in life is guaranteed. As far as the “pressure” we feel, I just did not feel that relationship pressure until I hit about age 25/26. I am now 27 soon to be 28. Ironically, many people (women) can probably agree you feel the “pressure” not from family but from your own friends who feel they have hit the golden ticket by now being in a serious relationship. It’s almost like they feel pity for you for not being in one and then they side eye you when you tell them that you are fine without a relationship. Their constant attempts to “hook you up” and the consistent looks of pity they throw at you when you are at an event where the couple ratio outnumbers the singles gets annoying and makes you not want to hang with coupled up buds as much. Im delighted for my happily paired up friends and do look forward to meeting someone that is worth seriously pairing up with but in the meantime, if people would back off about “Why are you single” then the world or at least my world would be filled with more glitter than what it already is! Lol Side Note: As I get older I find that I have been getting seriously hit on more and more by married men and men in relationships which has begun to make me question if there really is a such thing as a happily ever after when it comes to marriage but, maybe you can speak on that phenom! Lol
I think you just gave me direction on my next blog topic!!
Do people really still try to hook up friends? That is foolishness!