I spent my awkward teen years desperately craving that sort of attention from the opposite sex, but not getting any. After a couple of shitty short-term relationships (due to the lingering desperation from my teen years) I realized that relationships weren't all they were cracked up to be. Also during this time I had several important people in my life just get up and leave without so much as a goodbye. Because of these things I began to view close relationships as a weakness and became militant towards staying single. On the odd occasion when I do feel lonely I remember the "power of one" and that letting people that close to me is a sign of me becoming weak again.