One Of The Most Important Days In A Man's Life Is When You Realize How Much It Rules To Go Places Alone
Personally speaking, there are two major checkpoints in life where I think a boy truly turns into a man. The first is when you start to enjoy brussels sprouts. Obviously they have to be deliciously prepared. But if you can't sit down and enjoy yourself a serving of crispy brussels sprouts with bacon and a balsamic & honey glaze? Well then I hope they brought some crayons out to the table for you to draw on the kids menu.
The second checkpoint is the moment you can go to the bar on your own, without any plans of meeting up with anybody while you're there, and still have a great time. This could also go for the movies, a sporting event, grabbing a bite to eat. The moment you realize how much it rules to go places completely alone is the moment you're locked into adulthood.
When you're young, dumb, and full of male ejaculate, you always want to be in the mix. You want to be where the crowd is out because you don't want to miss anything. You go to the bar with your boys and you look over at the older fella sitting at the bar alone, and you feel bad for him. You think he doesn't have any friends, you figure his wife must have left him, or something tragic happened in his life to bring him to this point where he'd be there by himself. Little do you know, he's probably having the best day of his week/month/year. You just get to sit there, have a few drinks, watch a few games, chat up the bartenders whenever you get that slight itch for human interaction, and then call it a day.
Going to the movies alone? It might not get any better than that, and it's devastating that it takes you so long in life to realize that. I think for the most part, you're just worried about coming off as a creepy loner to show up to the theater alone. But you get to grab whatever snacks you want without having to share, sit there and enjoy the movie, and just appreciate the fact that you're essentially dead to the world for the next 90-120 minutes. That's really what it's all about. That's the feeling we're chasing. To be able to just take yourself out of the world for a little bit while hammering back some diet Coke and pretzel bites, and then get back to it when the movie is over.
I'm still a little on the fence when it comes to going to dinner alone. I think there's always some level of sadness to that which doesn't go away. But lunch? Now we're talking. It's scientifically proven that every bite of lunch gets exponentially more delicious with fewer people around.
The moral of the story here is to not feel bad for the guy you see sitting alone at the bar. Don't be weirded out by the dude you see showing up to the movies alone. Don't bother the guy treating himself to lunch by himself. Because all of those guys have found the key to happiness, and they're having an incredible time.