It seems these days, anything can turn into a phobia, and many of them can seem like normal human emotions, even reactions. The first step is acknowledging the fear and facing it head-on. Of course, when it comes to matters of the heart, is it easily fixed?
Face the facts: ‘singlephobia’ is real. Easily defined as being afraid of staying single, the phobia begins to make you miss all the great things about yourself, especially the life that you’ve created. According to a study commissioned by *eHarmony in the UK, 26% frequently felt unhappy in their relationship while more than half (54%) weren’t prepared to breakup due to singlephobia.
Nicole McInnes, Managing Director of eHarmony Australia states that “this research reflects there are thousands of people unhappy in their current relationship but feeling significantly stuck. In Australia, we often feel and even perpetuate negative stereotypes about being single – fuelling what we’ve termed “singlephobia.” Aussies are fearing change to the degree that we settle for unhappy relationships to avoid going at it alone or having to find someone new.”
In life, we need to ask ourselves why there is a pressure on not being alone. Who knows, maybe we’re financially unstable and need a few little crutches to help us through life. Could it be that social media has conditioned us to need to be with someone else at all times?
Image via Sunday Woman
Whatever the reason, even staying in a relationship with the wrong partner can have a not-so pleasant effect. The eHarmony report proves that being in a relationship has a highly negative impact including stress (39%), feelings of depression and anxiety (67%).
“At eHarmony we’ve reverse engineered a matching algorithm based on the research of tens of thousands of happy, lasting relationships, so we can tell you quite confidently that if you’re feeling unhappy in your current relationship or as a single person, there is a match out there for you that can give you the long-lasting, happy relationship you deserve. No matter what, we want to reassure ‘singlephobics’ that it’s never too late to learn how to be happy as a single person instead of staying in a partnership with the wrong person,” Nicole explains.
When talking to singles, the dating site found that 62% of people who don’t have a partner allowed them to live life on their own terms meanwhile providing a renewed sense of freedom.
Every girl needs to remember that they’re human and it’s absolutely fine to be single. We all just should believe that there is that someone special, who is just around the corner and worth waiting for!
*Survey commissioned by eHarmony UK with 2000 participants
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