Solidly Single 1

Although I have been single for almost my entire adult life, I have only been comfortable with my singleness for a few months (and quazi comfortable with it for about a year before that). The other 10 plus years of my post-adolescent/adult life were pretty torturous and painful. 

Most single women I know are pining away for something or someone. I am not sure that I personally know another woman or man as comfortable with being single as myself. This is kinda the thing that makes me THE Singlutionary.

There were several components to my sudden revelation of my solidly-singlutionary-self. I realized small things as days went by until suddenly and all together these small revelations added up to an inspired, joyful, satisfied life.

Here is the first (in a blog-mini-series) of these little revelations:

1. You don't need a partner or a spouse or children to have a REAL life.

I don't know if I though my life was fake or not, but I certainly didn't think it was real. I felt like I was trying to "catch up" so that I could have an important and valid existence. A partner or spouse or a family can certainly add to your sense of validation but you'll be a stronger husband/wife/partner/parent if you know how to see the validity in yourself even without all these relationships reminding you of who you are. I was looking for validation and I just couldn't seem to find enough of it anywhere I went. So I had to really intentionally foster a relationship with myself where (come hell or high water) I would KNOW in the core of my being that I was worthy.

On the other side of this validation coin are singles who get a great deal of validation from work. I used to be one of these people too. Work was my whole world and it was my primary relationship. I am very good at committing to a project or a cause. Most of my social life revolved around work things and I loved it. Then I burned out, dropped out and my sense of self was pretty shaken up. In some ways it still is. 

Being human is pretty complicated because if you continue to grow and mature after say 19 or 20, you're gonna keep having these identity shake-ups. And for some people its really scary to have them alone.

However, I think that these kinds of deeply personal soul searchy times are inevitably solitary. You can be a polygamist with 75 children but if you are having some kind of identity shake-up, you're still going it alone. Nobody can see what you see or be where you've been when it comes to YOU. 

So if you're looking for someone to "get" you and make you feel whole, I am sorry to tell you this but it ain't gonna work. You might find someone who comfort/loves/inspires you and makes the path a little easier but in the end, the person who knows you best is always yourself.

This is the adventure I am on. I finally quit trying to find myself in my friends and in my boyfriends and started just looking at me in ME. Its scary and its intimidating but its a journey that can only reveal amazingness all around.

*** Sorry to be preachy tonight. I'll get my sense of humor back in a few days. I must have loaned it out cause I haven't been able to find it for a few days. The only thing I can laugh about is farting which makes me think that maybe I misplaced my sense-o-humor on craigslist.***

Singled Out: Coupled at the Hip

Even if you're a solidly, non-desperately satisfied single, there are some things which can be irritating. They usually have to do with interacting with couples.

I am not here to hate on couples or anything. The Singlution is STILL for everyone.

I'm just here to offer some guidelines for both single and coupled individuals to live in harmony.

To the Single People: 

Do you have a friend/relative/co-worker/other (FRCO) who for whatever reason can't be out of sight of his/her spouse/partner/bfriend/gfriend (SPBG) for more than 2 minutes? Does he/she want YOU to do EVERYTHING with the TWO of them? Is his/her SPBG annoying/boring/stinky/a conversation dominator? Does your FRCO invite you over for what you think is some friendly bonding time only to give you the bonding performance of a lifetime with her SPBG?

This situation seems to be one of those things that maddens single people and coupled people are just clueless about. Single people: you are not alone. This behavior his totally gross. Of course, you may have done it yourself at some point in your life and heck, you may even fall prey to it later in your life to torture your then spinster/sadbatchelor friends. Maybe you'll see it as paying forward the revenge.

Regardless, here are some suggestions on how to handle these kinds of situations:

1. Go on vacation from the friendship for about 2.5 years or the breakup (whichever comes first)

2. Counter each invitation with an offer to attend a spouse/parter/bfriend/girlfriend FREE event. e.g. girls/boys night out, an activity which you KNOW that the SPBG will be utterly repulsed by (although be careful. this can really backfire. and you'll end up backpacking with a SPBG in a miniskirt and platform hiking boots).

3. Tell your friend/relative/co-worker/other how you really feel (which brings us back to #1).

4. Bring a video camera, edit out all the boring parts and post the offensive ones in a comment!

To the Coupled People:

Are you so deeply in love that you can't see straight? Do you feel like you can't breathe when your lover/soulmate/husband/wife/fiancee (LSHWF) leaves the room? Do you want to spend every waking moment in his/her arms? Can you not imagine going a single day without seeing him/her? Do you NEED him to attend the baby shower or to give her a goodbye kiss before going to the bathroom?

I am so happy for you that you have found the love of your life. Learning and growing with another person is a wonderful, priceless thing and I wish you well in your life together. Now that you have found your one true love with whom you will spend all eternity its time to remember that other people exist in your life! Its important because although you may be spending eternity with your soul mate, in this life you may need some support from folks other than your LSHWF. What is something happens to your LSHWF? It will be so absolutely awful for you that you will NEED people to help you through that. So, for your own sake, please maintain the other relationships in your life even if being away from your LSHWF makes you ache from head to toe and you feel nauseous and break out into a cold sweat. You can survive a 45 minute lunch date with a friend/relative/coworker/other (FRCO). You can do it!

Here are some suggestions of easy ways to keep up with those other people in your life:

1. Assign one night a week (not Friday or Saturday of COURSE) to get together with a FRCO and actually do it and make sure your sweetie has a FRCO to get together also but NOT on a double date. The 1.5 hour absence will make your heart only grow fonder.

2. Email all your FRCOs from a computer snuggle with your sweetie but tell them about ANYTHING other than how much you love your LSHWF even if its about how badly you have to pee (but leave off the part about how you can't pee because you can't stand to untangle yourself from your LSHWF's arms).

3. Take advantage of the time that your LSHWF is on the pot with a super stinky turd to start calling up that long long long list of unreturned phone calls. You might want to start just by checking your voicemail.

4. Kill a lot of burdens with one stone and plan twin parties for you and your LSHWF. For the first two hours you will be with all your friends at one location and your LSHWF will be with all his/her friends at another location. Afterwards you can join the parties together. Just like a liberal bachelor/bachelorette party.