The Hidden Costs of Being Single & Dating Experiment Updates

Now, today's episode is mostly covering why it's actually really fucking hard to be single in this day and age.

And a lot of the things that I speak about, I think people will relate to, but maybe don't talk about openly or don't feel seen in or validated in or feel as though other people are gonna understand.

And I think there's also some embarrassment and some shame that prevents us from admitting how hard being single can be and talking about this stuff.

Obviously, with everything, there's so many different sides and layers and nuances to these types of things, and this is just my personal experience and what I'm thinking and feeling at the moment.

I know that it's not black and white, and I try to make sure I mention this wherever I can when I'm, you know, expressing an opinion or talking about an experience because I know that not everyone is going to relate or resonate with what I'm saying, and that sometimes it's really fucking hard to be in relationships as well.

But there are some little known or little spoken about features of singlehood that I think especially as life gets more busy and expensive and hustle culture and, you know, late stage capitalism really starts to shift our world.

Yeah, this stuff is, this stuff is impacting what it means to be single and independent as well So I chat about that.

I chat about, uh, an experience where I shot my shot in person and asked someone out recently, and the feelings that I felt afterwards, the shame hangover, the embarrassment, how I worked through that.

A few little things like that that I think might be really juicy and interesting for you to tune into.

And, um, also a big part of me is kind of scared and hesitant to talk about this stuff or release content about this, because even though my family don't listen to my podcast and nor do most of my friends, I still worry that some of the things I'm speaking about from my experience might make them feel a certain way.

And I just wanna say, like, this is not a personal attack against anyone.

This isn't me saying anyone else is doing anything wrong.

It's not me saying anyone needs to change anything or treat me differently or act differently.

But I'm just hoping that this might act as an awareness piece to expand other people's perception and understanding of what other people's lived experience could be like if it's different to theirs.

I know that a lot of the things I speak about, certain members of my family get a little bit up in arms about or feel triggered by, or get worried that I'm speaking about them specifically or whatever.

And I've found this really challenging, having a podcast and creating content, especially around such sensitive topics, um, that are often informed by my lived experience and how that relates to what I'm hearing from my friends and my community and from a lot of my clients.

It's really tough 'cause I don't wanna have to censor myself, and I don't wanna not talk about these important topics and help other people feel validated and seen and understood just because it might ruffle some feathers or make my family feel, feel triggered or confronted by what I'm speaking about or feel attacked, which is not my intention.

Like, there is no attacking going on here, but, you know, as most of you know, with family, things can be pretty charged.

So this is a caveat if, for whatever reason, any of my family are gonna listen to this.

And I'm just talking about my personal experience, and it's not personal.

It's just what's happening, and you don't need to do anything or say anything.

But I guess it would probably help you to understand me a little bit more to hear about how, as a single person who's going through a lot of grief, it feels to actually, you know, be attending all of these celebratory events like weddings and baby showers and hens' parties and things like that, you know? No one's done anything wrong.

There's really no kind of, you know, magic bullet solution to this, uh, but I find it healing and helpful to talk about this stuff on my platform, and I know that a lot of other people feel really validated and love actually feeling like they can relate to what I'm talking about or what I'm describing.

And that, to me, is valuable enough and worthy of creating space for and making content for.

Yeah, so anyway, it's a tricky one.