Marriage rates have certainly been dropping in the UK, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

By prioritising her relationship with herself, she says, she has developed as a person and found greater self-acceptance and happiness. This is the second book I’ve read by Catherine Gray and I adore her upbeat, entertaining writing style. Catherine's books The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, The Unexpected Joy of Being Single and The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary are available now. In 2018, Catherine founded charitable campaign Sober Spring, a three-month sabbatical from alcohol, and she now runs it with Alcohol Change UK, for whom she is an ambassador. I wish she would have interviewed women from various backgrounds (single moms who love it, single bipoc, etc).I took up cycling as a hobby and absolutely loved it, which I might not have discovered if I hadn’t been single and pushing myself to try new things. I liked how it wasn't so pro single or pro dating/ marriage rather it is our own choice as long as we are happy and should be no place for judgement for either. With the single camp growing at ten times the rate of the actual population, it is now the norm to be single well into our thirties - the average marriage age for women is 35 and 37 for men.

Just this week, the actor Emma Watson told Vogue how a “bloody influx of subliminal messaging” had left her “stressed and anxious” because she was heading into her 30s without a husband and baby. Also discussed is HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) because if we experience any one through the day, it may be the cause of common negative feelings. Many people are under the impression that being single is some unfortunate thing that happens to us, but what if it’s a conscious choice we make? So as long as you know that no matter who you're with that's going to happen, then you can adjust your expectations.It's like a memoir style of book but also with little pieces of information and studies thrown in there to back up a lot of points which makes it all very digestible. The book encourages you to re-evaluate your assumptions about singledom and find the contented single in yourself.

So true: "The feeling of failure over being single is created by a thousand paper cuts of the sympathetic 'Oh wells', or the 'You'll meet someone' reassurers, or the 'Have you tried? Funnily enough since my last review in 2019, and partly due to reading her book, I've really changed my perspective on being single and really do enjoy living a single life. Our lives are constructed around the idea of finding our ‘other half,’ suggesting that we’re somehow incomplete on our own.The ups and downs, her own personal journey and the misconceptions of others surrounding single life. Vooral het begin van het boek focuste zich enorm veel op mensen die constant in een relatie (willen) zitten vanwege het comfort.