Contributed by Donna Marie

When I saw the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love, I couldn’t help but notice that the vast majority of the seemingly endless movie previews were of the romantic comedy variety.  I’m a sucker for romantic comedies but this got me wondering, “Is the largest genre of theatrical films focused on finding the love of one’s life?”

As a happy, single woman it occurred me that I would appreciate seeing a film that celebrates being single as an appealing option, not as something that is a problem that needs to be resolved by finding the right person.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the joy of being coupled and the happiness the comes with being single; but to be honest, I’m new to this equality of thinking.  For most of my life I was either chasing the relationship or missing the relationship. Neither place made me feel particularly happy until I realized that to depend on a relationship to make me happy was to have my joy in the hands of a situation.  Then I came to this–I am happy without a partner and that has been a joyful revelation!

 

Free to Be Single is a recurring feature focusing on being single without opposition to other forms of relating.  It’s about discovery and breaking through the societal walls of what should be when it comes to relationships.  It’s about celebrating all the options of relating available to us as human beings whether it is to be a couple or to be single or any other iteration.   It’s about embracing and being free to be where we are.  Free to Be Single reflects musings of how my life is unfolding from a place of freedom as distinct from the past when being single was a missing and I operated as a victim.