Most people are scared of ending up alone. The single ones want to get married, thinking it’s the answer to their loneliness. The married ones do not even want to think of a life where they would be without their partner. Both are justified.

But my problem lies with this – the single life is made the villain here. It has unnecessarily got a bad reputation, something that you need to steer clear of at all costs.

People tend to forget that being alone cannot be avoided. You will be alone at some point in your life, if not now, then later – when a partner passes away, or your children migrate, or due to other unforeseen circumstances.

Rather than being afraid of being alone, learn to embrace it.

Humans cannot do without love or some form of social interaction, but we shouldn’t be left flustered or lost if left on our own.

Picture your kids and your partner on an extended vacation. Maybe a year or more. Are you confident that you can manage things comfortably? I am not talking about emotional dependence. We all are emotionally dependent on the ones we love. But are you relying on others to manage your life for you?

One thing I learned when my father passed away was how dependent my mother was on him. She was left clueless on how to deal with life, financial responsibilities, and day-to-day chores that my father used to handle till then. So I had to take on my dad’s role when he passed away, even though I was just as clueless as my mother was. It was then I realized I wasted many years not learning enough from him, especially crucial matters related to finance.

Also, as someone who was once married and has lived alone for the past 15 years, I would like to say there are things in relationships that I certainly find scarier than being alone.

Being clueless about finance

We all must know how to handle our finances, irrespective of whether we have a partner or not. God forbid, if something happens to our partner, we should learn to navigate the situation.

Times are such that we cannot depend on outsiders to handle our money. We should take small steps to be financially literate.

The first step to awareness is to start learning from the member managing your family’s finances. Have conversations with them, understand what kind of investments they have made and why, and what your responsibilities would be in the future when it comes to managing any assets or liabilities in the future.

Being stuck with someone who can’t understand me

I find this scary because no matter what I do or how deeply I express myself, a partner whose emotional wavelength does not match mine might never be able to understand me.

It’s not the partner’s fault. It’s not yours either.

You both are just wired differently.

So to expect your partner to “get you” when they cannot is scary and unfair.

Wanting different things in life

There is a reason you “fall” in love. You are literally freefalling without any second thought. You ignore all the red flags because you have been blinded by love and are ready to forgive even toxic traits. You miss the blatant differences because they appear tolerable when new to love.

I did not understand this when I was young. However, I later realized that the more commonalities you share, the less turbulent your relationship will be.

Your core values should align, if not anything else, so communicating what is important to you (the dealbreakers) is a must.

Not being able to connect once the honeymoon phase is over

You never get to know someone’s love language unless you spend significant quantifiable time with them.

When you fall in love, your hormones are on overdrive.

You get to know how right you are for each other when things settle down.

Feeling alone in a relationship

This stems from point 2 – being with someone who can’t understand you. The second phase of this issue is usually loneliness, which creeps in when you try to make your partner understand you, but they are unable to.

All our lives, we are looking for someone to fill that void, but when that person themselves is responsible for the void, it is the most dreadful feeling.

Sometimes couples drift apart, and the only thing that remains is the relationship tag. This change cannot be predicted, but when it happens, it is more scary than being alone.

Not having complete control over my life

We fall in love, and we succumb entirely to the other person.

We lose some of our individuality and control over ourselves in the process.

Some amount of compromising is required for any relationship to survive. But how much is too much?

When I was married, I realized I had to let go of many things I enjoyed while I was single – my solitude, freedom to spend and invest my money the way I like, etc. This sudden loss of control was a scary thing for me. It is also a reason why I never remarried.

Conclusion

There are a lot more things that are scarier than being alone.

The purpose of this post is to educate young ones not to make rash decisions based on societal pressure or your own insecurities.

A partnership is to be pursued with full awareness. If you are afraid of being alone, you will never be able to view a relationship in a practical light. Worse, you might end up compromising on all the negatives or the red flags your partner throws at you just so you won’t end up alone.

Embrace solitude; it’s not all bad as society paints it to be.

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Photo by Arthur Brognoli