I’m 37, I Might Be Single For Ever — and I’m Happy With That by Aimée Lutkin

I’m 37, I Might Be Single For Ever — and I’m Happy With That by Aimée Lutkin

The following is behind a pay wall, or you must register to read in full, none of which I want to do.

(Link): I’m 37, I might be single for ever — and I’m happy with that

February 03 2022

In 2016, I had a minor experience at a dinner party that became a major life-changing event, like a pebble thrown into a pond sending waves lapping against the shore. I was 32 years old and I was single.

My friends, in a friendly way, asked me that night, “So, what’s going on with your love life?”

In a moment of vulnerability, I admitted nothing was going on with my love life. Nothing had been going on for quite some time.

And I was pretty sure nothing ever would get going again. I voiced my deep suspicion that I might end up being alone for ever.
— end —

The newspaper reproduced excerpts from the article in a series of tweets. Here are a few of the tweets:

In 2016, I had a minor experience at a dinner party that became a major life-changing event, writes @ALutkin.

I was 32 years old and I was single. My friends, in a friendly way, asked me that night, “So, what’s going on with your love life?” https://t.co/6dr4fJHJ6l

— The Times (@thetimes) February 4, 2022

But their reaction quickly grew beyond annoyance. At that dinner party in New York, my friends argued with me. They insisted that I would eventually meet someone because everybody does.

They were trying to be encouraging pic.twitter.com/jEMxXTmxjr

— The Times (@thetimes) February 4, 2022

Being single for years at a time, even an entire life, is not that strange at all. Across the world, the balance of married to unmarried has shifted significantly. The 2010 US census indicated that for the first time in its history, there were more single women than married in 🇺🇸

— The Times (@thetimes) February 4, 2022

The thing about leaving the dating scene in your mid-twenties and then scrambling to find a toehold there in your thirties is that there is an arrested development.
Not engaging with dating or love for so long had left me a bit immature about some things, a bit naive in some ways pic.twitter.com/r6eHLABMdR

— The Times (@thetimes) February 4, 2022

💪In recovering from pain, I began to invest more in cultivating an internal life and let go of chasing something external I could never hold on to.

❤️Romance is a really magical, wonderful part of life, but it’s just a small fraction of everything else there is to walk towards

— The Times (@thetimes) February 4, 2022

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Related:

(Link): Authors at The Federalist Keep Bashing Singleness in the Service of Promoting Marriage – Which Is Not Okay

(Link):  Craigslist confessional: I’m in my 40s, never married, and a virgin—but I’m happy by Abigail

(Link): Myths About Never Married Adults Over Age 40

(Link):  How the ‘Solo’ Movement is Rewriting Misconceptions of ‘Sad, Lonely’ Single Life

(Link): I Married Young. I Was Widowed Young. I Never Want A Long-Term Partner Again by R. Woolf

(Link):  Adult Singles Do Not Need A Marital Partner to Be Whole or Complete

(Link): Research: Being Single [or Fear of Being Single] is a Meaningful Predictor of Settling for Less in Relationships 

(Link): Single Adult Christian Pressured Into Marriage by Her Church – And Regrets It

(Link):  Getting Married Is Not an Accomplishment by N. Brooke

(Link):  Do You Need a Partner to Have a Happy Life? by D. LaBier

(Link):  I’m in My 40s, Child-Free and Happy. Why Won’t Anyone Believe Me? By Glynnis MacNicol

(Link): This New Year’s Eve, Celebrate the Women Who Choose to Stay Single by Amy Polacko

(Link): Eugene, the 56 Year Old Man, Tells Christian Show Host He’s Tired of Being Single

(Link): Dear Prudence: Help! I’m Glad My Awful Husband Is Dead.

(Link): Unmarried and Childless Women Are the Happiest, Happiness Expert Claims

(Link): Why Being Single Sucks: What No One Wants to Talk About, by B. Smith

(Link): What is a Platonic Life Partnership? These Couples are Breaking Societal Relationship Norms

(Link): Four in 10 Adults Between the Ages of 25 and 54 are Single, Up From 29% in 1990

(Link): What You Lose When You Gain a Spouse – What if marriage is not the social good that so many believe and want it to be? by M. Catron

(Link):  What If Marriage Is Overrated? – A social psychologist has been chipping away at many claims about marriage changing one’s life for the better

(Link): Can We Stop Saying Singleness is God’s Will? by Anonymous via Sheila Wray Gregoire

(Link): Twice-Divorced Lady Suggests That God Told Her He’d Send Her Husband Number Three and She Got Married a Third Time – I Actually Don’t Find This Story Uplifting

(Link): To the Christians (especially married ones) Who Like to Instruct Single Christian Adults They Should Only Marry Other Christians, Listen Up (Re: Equally Yoked Rule)

(Link): Christians: Please Stop Telling Singles that Their Singleness is “For God’s Glory” /  Owen Strachan’s “Being Single To Bring God Glory” Essay

(Link): Christians Advise Singles To Follow Certain Dating Advice But Then Shame, Criticize, or Punish Singles When That Advice Does Not Work

(Link): False Christian Teaching: “Only A Few Are Called to Singleness and Celibacy” or (also false): “God’s gifting of singleness is rare”

(Link): Do You Need a Partner to Have a Happy Life? by D. LaBier

(Link): Pat Robertson’s Incredibly Insensitive Advice to Gail the Unmarried Woman 

(Link):  Typical Conservative Assumption: If you want marriage bad enough (or at all), Mr. Right will magically appear

(Link): Cathy The Single Woman Asks Pat Robertson Why God Has Not Replied to Her Prayers for Years to Send Her a Spouse

(Link): Do You Feel Shame About Being Single? By John Amodeo, PhD

(Link): Married to the Job: How a Long-Hours Working Culture Keeps People Single and Lonely by S. Jaffee

(Link): Fewer Americans Think Marriage is Needed To Create Strong Families, New Poll Suggest

(Link): Woman Wildly Happy She Got Divorced (Dear Abby Column)