Happy Thursday, everyone!

Welcome to my first weekly post on Single Living. In order to live out my out my motto  of finding  love, joy, and adventure in everyday living, there are times when I have to address my life a single woman with both its blessings and struggles.Whether you are currently single or happily in a relationship, I hope you find my experiences, thoughts, and adventures as a happily single woman interesting and informative.  I don’t want to disappoint anyone, but this is not a Carrie Bradshaw take on the single life. ( Although,  Carrie Bradshaw is very cool!) So I won’t be writing about glamorous lifestyles, parties every night, and dating lots of men. Well, maybe I will. I have heard the 50’s can be a very liberating time of life!  😉

If you are a  life long single;

For most people, meeting someone who has never married peaks a certain curiosity.  20 somethings living on their own for the first time enjoy the freedoms of being independent but most young people assume that their single status is a temporary situation. They enjoy being single while it lasts,  but plan to settle down and start a family sometime after college or graduate school.  I imagine  you would be hard pressed to find someone happily single over  the age 30 who hasn’t been asked:  ” When are you going to get married?” Or ” Don’t you want to have children? You can’t wait forever, you know. ” After 40 people stop asking when you are going to get married and start asking ” Why didn’t you ever get married?”  These are awkward questions for even the most confident single person. The underlying assumptions is that we are all supposed to be a part of a couple and if you are not in a marriage or established partnership by a certain age it just seems a little odd to the rest of the world.

I have never been married. I have been deeply in love once and planned to marry, dated some, and have had many crushes over the years. I enjoy the company of men and am a romantic at heart. I believe that love is everywhere and you never know where life is going to lead you especially when it comes to love and romance. I also have always enjoyed the freedom of being single. Yes, I would consider a married life if the situation was right, but I do not feel a strong need to  seek marriage out. Sometimes I get lonely. Sometimes when I get home from work I wish there was someone to share dinner with or to hold me.  I am at peace with the fact that I have no children of my own.  I feel pressure from society, even at 50, to not be single.

Through this series I  hope to spread the news that people who chose to be single are intelligent, creative,  fun people who live interesting lives.

If you have found yourself newly single:

Death, divorce, and breakups leave many people who want to be in a marriage or partnership suddenly single. These are traumatic situations and being labeled single after being a couple for many years may have negative connotations for you.  If this is what you are experiencing right now, I hope I can help you work through this time in your life. Being single can be a great time of self discovery; whether you choose to commit to another marriage or partnership or remain single, this time of your live is a gift to find out who you really are and what you have to offer to the world. Embrace it. Make it work in your favor!

If you are currently in a relationship:

We all have them in our lives; the aunt who never married, the bachelor brother, the divorced cousin,  the widowed grandmother. We never know what life will bring us. I hope this series helps you to relate to the single people in your life and gives you some insight to their lives and maybe a little insight to your own life as well.

I hope this post gives you a glimpse how I hope this series may be of some benefit for you. Next Thursday I will talk about the rising number of people who are choosing to live alone.  Interesting trend!

Until Next time,

Laura