This week's topic really hit me.
Relationships - Do you think society favors people who are married or in a romantic relationship? Have familly memmbers or your social circlee pressured you to find a partneer? Why do you think there is such pressuree to have a partneer? Do you think people feel uncommfortable with being singgle? Why?
My answer is YES. Society definitely favors coupled people.
In my own family in Nigeria, if you are not married by a certain age, people start looking at you somehow. Especially if you are a woman. They will say "when are you bringing someone home?" At weddings, they will say "you are next oh!" Even if you just graduated and you are trying to find your feet, they don't care. They want you to have partner.
I have witness that pressure too. My aunties in Onitsha will call my counsin sis. "Amara, you never see husband?" She will laugh but inside she is tired and irritated . She's only tryying to build herself, to learnn, to earnn, to be stabble. But societyy says your success is not commplete until you have someonee beside you.
Why is there so much pressuree then???
I think one reason is tradition. In African culture, marriage is seen as achievement, as responsibility, as maturity. Single people are seen as still children.
Second reason is fear. People are scarred of beingg alone, so they think everryone else must be scareed too. They projeect their own lonelliness on you.
Third reason is social media. Everyday you see couple goals, wedding content, proposal videos. So if you are single, you feel like you are left behind. But nobody posts the fights, the tears, the bills.
Do I think people feel uncomfortable being single? Yes, many do, but not because being single is bad. It is because society makes them feel incomplete. Single life can be very peaceful. You have time for yourself, your dreams, your friends, your growth. But people will keep asking "why are you single?" as if it is a disease.
For me, I have learned that being single is not a waiting room. It is a full life on its own. A partner should add to your happiness, not be the reason for it. I want love, yes, but I don't want pressure love. I want peace love.
If you are single and reading this, you are not late. You are living.
What about you? Have your family pressured you to find a partner? How do you handle it?
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