What Helped Me Navigate Singlehood in My Twenties
I was single for most of my twenties, which I didn’t really mind at first. But when our peers started to get married one by one, my “single” status began to stick out like a sore thumb.
Jane likes to think of herself as a reader first, though a picky one at that. Thanks to grad school, she’s transitioned from fiction to nonfiction, though these days it’s long essays by eloquent writers that she most relishes. Through the ups and downs in life, she’s experienced and continues to experience the restorative power of words (and the Word). She hopes to get to work with more Christian writers and publishers and is very thankful to have become part of YMI.
I was single for most of my twenties, which I didn’t really mind at first. But when our peers started to get married one by one, my “single” status began to stick out like a sore thumb.
The last time I heard someone say he wasn’t ready for Jesus to come yet, it was my uncle, who had said that because he wanted to see my cousin get married first.
I’ll be honest, the same thought has also occurred to me.
There’s been a lot of buzz about “quiet quitting”, which began with a series of TikTok videos talking about the woes of the hustle culture and how we ought to take back our lives.
I was that friend who once dated a non-Christian. Let me tell you my story.
I’ve had my share of friendship “fades”, the kind of drifting apart that comes with growing up, moving away, getting married, having children.
But I’ve never had a friendship “breakup”.
“What we’re trying to do is—even when the anxiety stays—help you learn to live with it,” said my therapist for the umpteenth time.
I know what my therapist said is true, but it’s still a hard pill to swallow.
Even though my husband was literally just a few feet away on the couch (clear proof that I wasn’t alone), it made little difference at that moment. I was longing for the kind of soul-nourishing intimacy that comes with female friendships—the willingness to listen and talk at length, the gentle tone, the comforting hug or touch on the shoulder, and most of all, hearing them say, “I know what you mean” or “Yeah, me too!”
My family has always been what some might describe as ‘textbook Christian’: We go to church every Sunday, and attend fellowships and retreats. We read the Bible, join Bible study groups, and hold Bible study sessions at home. We believe that a family that prays together stays together.
And yet, it has always been painful for me to see how much conflict and tension we have in our home.
We often hold on to something—whether it’s a relationship that we know isn’t pleasing to God, or a job or task that we’ve outgrown—for longer than we need to.
Perhaps it feels impossible and wrong to quit. So we persevere and plod along, even when it’s leading us nowhere.
YMI (which stands for Why Am I?), is a platform for Christian young people all over the world to ask questions about life and discover their true purpose. We are a community with different talents but the same desire to make sense of God’s life-changing word in our everyday lives.
YMI is a part of Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible,
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