Single? More and more people are loving it — here's why

Kim Domingo has been single for two years now and she's never been happier. "Sobrang saya ko talaga ngayon. Sarili ko na muna" she tells GMA News Online.

The 27-year-old Kapuso celebrity, who has been using the hashtag "single but happy," admits she once thought that being single meant being stuck.

"[Parang] ang lungkot [na] wala ka nang pwede magawa. Kailangan may partner ka para sumaya," she said.

But she's happily discovering it was a misconception. These days, Kim isn't even keen on entering a relationship just yet as she's having fun focusing on herself and her happiness. "Sobrang dami kong na-realize and sobrang dami kong nagagawa na nagpapasaya sa akin," she continued.

Kim is not alone. In any friend group these days, there's at least one kabarkada not looking for a relationship. According to Bumble, some 18% of their Filipino users are just looking for something casual — which doesn't necessarily or automatically mean they're afraid of commitment. It just means they're not rushing to get into one.

Psychologist and relationship expert Aileen Santos has observed the same thing with her clients: More and more young adults have been prioritising themselves first before entering a committed bond and "It's very wise," she says.

"It's wise for you to know that deep inside you, you aren't ready yet for a relationship. It's not that you," she continues.

“If we go into a relationship too soon and we make that person basically our identity or our world, it is unfair to that person and it’s going to be really not healthy for your own growth and development," she adds.

But staying single doesn't mean staying off the dating game or crossing out dating apps. According to Santos, going on dating applications is part of the road leading to knowing one’s worth.

“You really won’t be able to discern what you really need in a partner until you’ve connected with several people,” she said.

Likening dating to going to the gym, Santos says, “You don’t go there [to] take notes. You go there and try out different machines, tools. You check if you want to take a class, kung ano pala yung bagay sa needs mo as a person.”

It's all part of self-discovery, she said, which you might not get if you were always in a relationship. Being single, as Kim and plenty others are discovering, affords a person time and space to get to know themselves better.

"Ngayon ko nga lang nasabi na ang sarap maging single eh," Kim says. "Super enjoy ko siya!" — LA, GMA News