Single during the holidays? Lucky you! You have the freedom to do what you want, when you want to, and how you want to! Don't pity yourself, go out there, have fun and enjoy your life… good things shall come!

The lights are hung in the city, and the festive holiday mood is spreading around like hungry mosquitos. Friends call to meet you at the Christmas market, which is already in full swing at the Römerberg in the middle of Frankfurt. When you arrive, you see the beautiful 28-meter tall Christmas tree decorated with magnificent bright lights, glittering in the evening sky. After a few minutes, you notice the many couples walking around you, holding hands, giving each other loving kisses, laughing, hugging – and all of a sudden, those tree lights turn into harsh blinking-blue reminders - making a mockery of your single holiday blues. The tree is not your friend anymore, and you escape to the next stall, in order to drown your sad thoughts with a few Glühweins.

Must the holidays be a constant reminder of how single you are? Does hearing ‘jingle bells’ every time you enter a store make you feel even lonelier? Let me shock you here for a minute… it doesn’t have to be that way! To be quite honest, being single during the holidays actually opens up a huge amount of possibilities to you. You are your own captain! You can accept or decline whichever holiday party invitations you wish, you can do whatever the hell you want to with your spare time, you can pamper yourself in a spa, you don’t need to buy your partner or their family any presents – think of all that extra cash you can now spend on yourself! Buy that sexy dress you saw in the store window, be the goddess that you are! You have more time to spend with your friends, or those you haven’t seen in ages, hang around more with your family, have extra time for your fun hobbies, take an exotic vacation during the holidays… basically, you have the freedom to do what you want, when you want to, and how you want to! That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Actually, it sounds quite fabulous!

Dave, a friend of mine, was telling me that last year he organized the most amazing Christmas party for his big love, Julie, and her family. He showered her with beautiful gifts, and made sure that everyone felt welcomed and comfortable in their home during the holidays. Instead of showing a tiny bit of gratitude, Julie was complaining that everything is going wrong, how he is not good or respectful enough to her family, that she is under too much stress due to trying to be perfect and accepted by his family. The holiday season was a devastating disaster for both of them, even though Dave tried his very best. (The single people reading this are now thinking…oh, thank God I do not have to deal with this crap!) Am I right? The way that I see it is that there are both positive and negative aspects for being single or attached during the holidays. Being in a relationship can be wonderful, but there are also times of stress, fights, emotional overflows, attempts at pleasing each other and the families, and more chaos. Do not concentrate and fixate on the thought of how amazing it would be to have a partner now. This will only cause more emotional pain, which is not really needed right now – frowning causes wrinkles, and is not a good accessory to your New Year’s Eve outfit! So what, you’re single? Believe me, you’re not the only one out there. It’s not the end of the world, (Actually it might be, but we shall see in 2 weeks ;-) it’s just another year that some more holidays go by. So you see dear single boys and girls, being solo during the holidays is not so bad… instead of being sad, go and enjoy yourself, flirt, bake, dance, sing, work out, continue that stamp collection from childhood, learn Mandarin… there is so much to do!

The flirt-factor in December is quite high! The snowflakes are falling, and people want to have fun at the Christmas parties. So instead of wasting time and feeing down and depressed about being solo, take your fabulous self to a salon. Get a stunning new hairstyle, buy a seductive new outfit, and make plans with your dear friends for the next few weeks, including New Year’s Eve. You are fantastic and have no time for pitying yourself! You are a warrior of love, and deep down you know that the “right” person will come when the time is right! So why wait? Go out there, have fun and enjoy your life… good things shall come!

*** WIN WIN WIN!! - Next week, I will host our first “GB-Flirt-School” event. I will take 3 lovely ladies with me, for a fun flirting session at the Frankfurter Christmas market. Our favorite photographer will accompany us, documenting our crazy fun evening. The photographs will be printed in the next issue of Journal Frankfurt, as well as posted online. So girls, you cannot be camera-shy! This will be a great evening full of live flirting lessons, drinking, laughing and tons of fun! To win, and participate, please write me an email at: galia@journal-frankfurt.de, or write me a comment below saying that you would like to participate in our first “GB-Flirt-School” event. You can also contact me on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/yesnomaybe8. I am looking forward to meeting the 3 lucky winners next week! ***