Don't be a cuddler in clingy times

Would she be in love with her, I wondered when I saw a rather intimate snapshot on Insta. Head against head, body against body, a bit of the partner code. It wasn't like that, because a day later she introduced her new man to the world. Oops, thanks.

I'm not that cuddly, never have been, and I fear for the cuddly people in my life that I will never really become one. With the beloved? Certainly. With the guest dog? Non-stop, and then everyone has to scoot a bit on the couch so she fits in, if possible. With the rest? No, I forget them. I don't comfortably snuggle up to someone, I don't throw my leg over that of my best friend, and I don't sit with my upper body between legs on the terrace. And yet I see it everywhere, a kind of free-spirited sixties-seventies love that everyone participates in. I start to shift a bit when one crawls onto the other's lap and plans to stay there. And that's why I wonder: am I the exception, the odd duck, am I prude?

After some serious research on Google, I felt neglected within a second. I typed in: why does one like to cuddle and the other less? It can be in your nature, but it also has to do with all the cuddling as a child with your parents. With this theory, something goes completely wrong, because my mother has cuddled me my whole life. But it can certainly be that you just don't know it well and therefore don't do it. Logical logic.

By the way, a little cuddling is good for you. Oxytocin is released, which leads to lower blood pressure and less stress. Maybe that's it. We all stress out, especially women, and we just need to cool off a bit. And because everything has to be on Insta, we also share our cuddling widely. Yes, sounds like my common sense at the top of its game.

Yet my nature and I skip this trend for a moment. And if my nature is okay with it, then I suspect that my aura starts sputtering very hard. It also likes legs and arms to be kept to oneself, values a square meter of air, and thinks that cuddling should be spontaneously given: in sudden love, a tear, or when posing. So it's not that I don't love you, I'm just not a cuddler in mushy times.