I love Independence Day. For single people I think it carries an added significance- celebrating the absolute freedom of being unattached.
Our society is built on the institution of marriage and “settling down”. I spend a lot of time thinking about what that would look and feel like. But I spend far more time enjoying the life I have free from all of that. My friends, my family, my apartment, creative endeavors, work friends, rescue dog, community in LA– all the things that make my life unique and solely my own– as a single person. One day there may come a time when much of that is shared with someone and everything will be different. For now, it’s mine.
I know from married and engaged friends that once it happens it changes everything immediately and fully. Their friends are your friends. Their house is your house. It’s not easy to march to the beat of your own drum when you have someone to “check in” with constantly, let alone a marriage to tend to or children to care for. You can’t pop out to meet friends whenever you feel like it, stay out too late or shrug off responsibility. My married and engaged friends tell me they look back to the time right before they became attached and wish they could go back for one last hurrah, one last experience of being single and free– to do it all over again. Many of my single friends say they wish they had something consistent and nurturing. The grass is always greener on the other side.
Today I’d like to celebrate the experience of being independent and inspired.
#SFAR
