Honestly? Cuffing Season Sounds Heinous, Like a Nightmare

Can we just take a second to talk about 'cuffing season' and how awful it really is? The term "cuffing season" comes from the literal idea of being handcuffed to someone and I can't help but wonder why in the world this tradition is still around in 2021.

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Those who participate in cuffing season aren't literally walking around handcuffed to another person because that would just be weird. I remember the first time a friend told me they were getting ready for cuffing season and I legit thought it meant they were going to cuff their jeans as we did in the 80s. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Cuffing season became a "thing" when it was entered as a prase into Urban Dictionary in 2011. According to Urban Dictionary, cuffing season is when the weather gets colder and everyone is getting cozy with a date and you don't want to be left out and so you settle for someone way below your standards and stay with them until the weather warms up.

In other words, the end goal of cuffing season is to break up.

I am filled with so many questions. Like, first of all, why do you, a person who has value, think you need to lower your standards just to be with someone through the winter months? Um, everyone knows how lowering your standards leads to a domino effect of other things, and the next thing you know, you're pregnant or married or living with someone you wouldn't be with if it weren't for dumb cuffing season. Listen to me. YOU are WORTH being with someone who fits your standards. Never settle.

Another question I have is why you'd want to put your heart or potentially the heart of someone else through pain? It is inevitable, even if agreed upon ahead of time that the "relationship" is only to get through the holidays, that one person will develop feelings even if the other doesn't. One way or another, hearts are going to be hurt at the end of the agreed-upon time.

And my last question is this: are you ready to tell your kids that it all started with some really bizarre trend called "cuffing season" where their mom and dad got together just to be cuddle buddies? Cuffing season is supposed to be temporary but sometimes it lasts all the way down the aisle. So, are you ready to tell your future kids because you know they're going to look at you like you're three-headed monsters and roll their eyes hard. And then, they'll probably question the real reason for all sorts of decisions you've made because that's the way kids' brains work.

I know I'm a middle-aged woman who's happily married (and so thankful to be out of the dating game) but am I wrong?

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