Happiness does not only depend on the romantic relationship.
- Celibacy is often stigmatized when it can be a choice and a source of happiness.
- Social and cultural norms that value couple and family life can weigh on single people.
- However, it is quite possible to be single without being lonely, by multiplying interactions with others in all areas of your life.
Between social pressure, the construction of a romantic ideal, or the idea that a bachelor has failed, there are many reasons to stigmatize celibacy. However when it comes to a choice, it can be a source of happiness.
Why do we fear celibacy?
If of course we can feel happy and feel pleasure in contact with someone, this satisfaction is not only related to the romantic relationship but quite simply the attachment to a loved one. The need to be with others is a fundamental need that can lead to associate celibacy with loneliness, a psychic experience that has nothing to do with it.
Being single does not mean suffering from loneliness
Often associated, celibacy and loneliness are however very different mental states. If celibacy refers to the absence of a partner, loneliness is an experience of psychic suffering linked to the lack of social interaction. On the contrary, it is quite possible to be single without being lonely, by multiplying interactions with others in all areas of one’s life.
Thus, when the single person chooses, for various personal reasons, not to move towards a couple commitment, he can find a higher well-being there by choosing his social interactions according to his own needs.
What is the influence of social pressure on single people?
Social and cultural norms value couple and family life as an ideal because of the organization of society around the family nucleus. Being single can therefore be considered a personal failure to build a life as a couple, sometimes linked to immaturity or a selfish character. The single person is thus the victim of many prejudices ranging from his bitter or embittered character, his fear of commitment or his desperate and unhappy search to find a life partner.
Moreover, the pressure of romantic love, as depicted in the media, can generalize the idea that bonding with a partner is a lifelong commitment, without possible questioning. Anyone who does not find “the love of his life”, or who has experienced multiple separations, is then made to feel guilty for what is perceived as a failure.
Find out more: “Single user manual” from La Célibataire La Vraie, and La Trentaine Tmtc.
