Single Life

Single is still treated as a transitional state — the period before the real life begins. The data disagrees. Single-person households are among the fastest-growing categories in most developed countries, and research on long-term single people finds that self-reported wellbeing tracks the quality of friendships and autonomy far more than partnership status.

What does correlate with unhappiness is involuntary singleness combined with social pressure. The pressure, not the state, is the problem — which is why so much of this collection is about handling other people's questions and building a life legible on its own terms.

Topics here include solo finances and homeownership, travelling alone, friendship as primary infrastructure, deciding about children independently, and dating from a position of genuine choice rather than urgency.