Sociability and the Single Woman

Hosted by Nadia Halim with Sabrina Bowman Melissa Brizuela

“When I was in my 20s, a part of me wanted to feel normal by society’s standards. I wanted to be married so that I didn’t feel odd. And that’s a terrible reason.”

As a “relationship virgin”, I wonder whether I even want a relationship anymore, or just feel like a weirdo for not being in one. Melissa describes her current status as “willfully single”—she’s focusing on building other meaningful relationships in her life. Sabrina’s single and looking, but has also just bought a house with five friends; is that really any weirder or riskier than getting married? We also talk about strategies for making new, close friends when you’re past your twenties; planning way ahead, financially and socially; and how being single isn’t the same as being alone.

3. Sociability and the Single Woman.

The Opposite Of Lonely Sabrina and Melissa join Nadia to discuss being “willfully single”, making close friends when you’re past your twenties, and how being single isn’t the same as being alone. More episodes

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Guests.

Sabrina Bowman is a 35-year-old single woman who loves her bike, Kensington Market, running an environmental nonprofit called GreenPAC, dance parties, doing lunges, and delighting in the wonderful people of Toronto,

Melissa Brizuela grew up in the suburbs of Toronto and moved downtown while she was an undergraduate student at Ryerson. She loves the challenges and rewards of her day job in higher ed, but she's still trying to find her "life's work". She loves to sew, but does her best creative work in the kitchen.

Show Notes.

“I’m a relationship virgin: I’m 54 and have never had a boyfriend”.

The book by a twentysomething homesteader that Melissa mentions is Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich.