There’s this lovely children’s book where I come from that teaches kids numbers and has one of those number pads attached on the side that, when pressed, tells a story about that corresponding digit.
If you press #1, the voice in the box tells you that there are a lot of unique things that are the only ones out there. And number one is probably the only number that boasts about being the only one—there’s just one one.
By proxy, being single isn’t necessarily a bad or sad thing. The silver lining is that there’s just one one of you and that kinda sorta makes you unique. Take solace in that. Life’s too short to be grumpy about things. And don’t do whatever happened in this story…
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Being single’s not that bad. Think of all the money you can save and there’s nobody to ruin your sleep with immature pranks or loud farting
Image credits: Nathan Dumlao (not the actual photo)
But some would rather take that (minus the farts) just so they would feel like they belong. Even more so when everyone else in the family is in relationships
Image credits: u/Altruistic_Drink6412
A woman shared her struggle with a daughter who’s the only one who’s had bad luck in relationships, and just couldn’t handle her negativity any more
Image credits: Roberto Nickson (not the actual photo)
A mother of 3 recently shared online her struggle with her 27-year-old daughter who doesn’t have the best of luck when it comes to romance. She’s gotten cheated on, she’s had toxic relationships, heck, even now the mom claims her partner is crummy.
This comes within the context of everyone else in the family, nephews and nieces included, having successful relationships and marriages and kids and everyone is happy. So, there’s this why me? sort of nuance unravelling here. This, in turn, manifests in the form of never-ending complaints that always somehow tie in with the fact that she’s single or unhappy with her romantic life.
And the family vacation was no different. While she does have a boyfriend and was allowed to take him with her, she didn’t. That ended in her being the only single person in the bunch. And for a vacation where there were a lot of things to do in pairs, she always felt like the third wheel, if not just one wheel. A monocycle? You get the point.
This inevitably led to a lot of complaining on her part. Complaining about how everyone is lovey-dovey and their affection is just out there and stuff. This irked her mother, OP, something fierce one day. It always happens during various social gatherings like this, but today it caught up to her and so she had to put an end to this.
The mom confronted the daughter and said that “just because her life isn’t going well doesn’t mean others will stop living theirs.” That was the end of that conversation. And the end of them talking, period. This continued for a week. OP became worried she might lose her daughter over this, but at the same time, was the daughter justified in her reaction or was she out of line?
During a family vacation, the mother told the daughter to essentially knock it off because the world doesn’t stop turning all because of her life isn’t going well
Image credits: Kinga Howard (not the actual photo)
This was the question that the AITA community now had to answer. And it wasn’t an easy question to tackle as verdicts were all over the place. Those who ruled OP’s not the jerk claimed that the daughter chose to go on vacation and chose against having fun regardless of the situation—she’s old enough to decide how she wants to vacation, right? If anything, what OP said was not cruel, but simply true—the fact that she’s single doesn’t mean the world now has to prance around to her tune. It’s just the way it goes.
However, there were folks who saw it as cruel. When a person is surrounded by everyone in a relationship, it can be hard for them to empathize with being single and hence she might not feel the emotional support and care from others in the same way another single person could in how they relate to the situation. OP herself said that her daughter’s life isn’t going well—maybe it was time to be a parent and help her out?
And there were those who found middle ground and said that everyone sucks, plain and simple. The vacation could have been more accommodating for her. The daughter could’ve maybe not complained as much because being single isn’t the end of the world. There’s more gray here than meets the eye.
Soon enough the post was slapped with an Everyone Sucks Here flare. Nevertheless, it got 13,500 upvotes (90% upvoted) in a day, so that’s nice. You can check out the post here.
The two fell out of touch for a week and the mother started getting worried she might not see her daughter again
Image credits: Ardian Lumi (not the actual photo)
Wanna hear some single people stats? Here we go. Pew Research Center came out with some numeric knowledge stating that nearly 70% of Americans are partnered in one way or another—through marriage, common household or just dating, while the remaining 30% are single. But the singles are also split into two equal camps of those who are looking for a relationship, and those who are happy without it (maybe sometimes casually dating, but no more than that).
Looking at the demographics, the biggest group of singles by age is the 18-to-29-year-olds. Women in that group constitute 41%, whereas for guys it’s 51%. Most of them are in high school or college with 34% and 32% respectively. And 29% of them identify as straight, while 47%—as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
So, why are folks single? The #1 reason among those under 50 is that they have other, higher priorities in life, like career or personal goals, while those over 50 indicate that they just like being single as their #1 reason.
Other reasons include being too busy, having given up because of no luck in the past, not being ready to get back into it after losing a spouse, or health problems, which would make relationships difficult.
And, hey, being single ain’t all bad. Besides not having your mind cluttered with extra relationship worries, you can be free(r) to tackle life however you want and keep it flexible, which allows you to get in touch with yourself and figure out what you want in life. This is besides all the financial and self-confidence perks that come along with being single and unburdened with extra worry.
But that’s just one side of the coin. What are your thoughts on any of this? Share your takes, stories, what have you in the comment section below!
After presenting her case to the community, r/AITA had mixed feelings about this
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