Preparing oneself for a higher love

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of just about anything, must be in want of a husband.

Please indulge me while I channel my inner Jane Austen, won’t you?

My opening line is, of course, inspired by one of Austen’s most famous opening lines: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

Austen’s opening line drips with irony–we all know that rich men aren’t desperate for marriage. (Even if many women might wish they were!) And this is just as true today as it was in Austen’s time.

Sadly for humanity (and for my ego), my opening line doesn’t quite pack an ironic punch the way Austen’s does.

Many women are indeed desperate for marriage, and the belief that a woman is somehow incomplete without a partner is in fact quite pervasive. It lurks in the dark recesses of our psyches, dictating many of our choices, and wreaking havoc at large. And not just for the single woman.

The truth is that we’re not lacking or incomplete in any way, whether we have a romantic partner or not, but it might require a fair bit of work to embody that inner freedom. At least it has for me so far, and although a deeper shift has occurred, the work hasn’t stopped.