Thank you, Dr. DePaulo, for this timely insight. BTW, I didn't know you were on this platform. I participated in your survey last year, and I'm looking forward to Single At Heart.

I could lament here about how many times I've felt "othered" by coupled/partnered/married people I know. What is most disturbing is that I can't enjoy their coupledom without them seizing the moment to interpret my happiness for them as some kind of repressed desire to really be coupled/partnered.

Why is it that I can be happy for their choice but somehow, they can't bring themselves to reciprocate the same celebration of my happiness for being single? Those in our circle of acquaintances who are depressed about their single state are welcomed with gleeful pity. I, on the other hand, am viewed with suspicion. Their rationale is that it is not "healthy" to be satisfied being alone. Notice I didn't use the word "happy"....because they never use it when discussing my preferred state of being.