Well Enough Alone - A Guide To Thriving Solo

 As single people, we’re often pitied or seen as living half a life. We’re just incomplete puzzles desperately searching for the missing piece to make us whole. But what if the risk is not what we’ll miss out on if we don’t organise our lives around a romantic partner, but what we’ll miss out on if we do? Today, Jill speaks to Dr Bella DePaulo – the world’s leading thinker on the single experience about her research, which shows that for millions of people in every corner of the globe, being single is actually the key to thriving and living their best life. And contrary to popular cultural assumptions, those who embrace their single status, grow happier as they age. Dr DePaulo is a professor of psychology with a PhD from Harvard, she’s 70, has always been single, and says she always will be. She’s the author of Single at Heart: The Power, Freedom, and Heart-Filling Joy of Single Life. Her TEDx Talk, “What no one ever told you about people who are single,” has been viewed more than 1.6 million times. You can learn more about her at her website, www.BellaDePaulo.com or follow her on Instagram @bellasingleatheartTo stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only early access to episodes on Patreon. Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.   

This is a podcast for anyone who’s ever been told that being single makes you incomplete, or life will only begin when you find “the one.”I wanted to make it because I was tired of outdated cultural narratives that told me there were only two life paths available to us – “partnered and happy” or “single andsearching.”There is a different way – solo and thriving.With more solo households today than at any point in our history, single people are the fastest-growing demographic.And yet, being alone is often viewed as a state of limbo before we meet “the one” and settle down.What if the one you’ve been looking for is you? Could embracing your single status rather than fearing it be the key to a whole and happy life?To leave “well enough alone” means to stop trying to change something that is already good enough.I wanted to make a space for conversations that celebrate solo life, flipping the script on sad and lonely single stereotypes and embracing all that a life untethered has to offer.And that’s exactly what I’ve done, with my incredible production team at Spare Room, who have helped me turn this dream into a reality.Over the last few months, I’ve interviewed inspiring guests – some who are single and some who aren’t – who shared stories of the strength and comfort they’ve found in their own company.And I talked to leading experts in psychology, human behaviour, business and health about the upsides and the challenges of solo living – from choosing to be child-free or being a single parent, to managing a budget on one income, enjoying your freedom or navigating loneliness, and dipping your toe in the dating pool.Whether you’re happily single, trying to get comfortable with your solo status, or even partnered and looking to carve out more time for yourself, Well Enough Alone is here to help you live your life your way.

Well Enough Alone is a celebration of solo living that tears up the “sad and lonely”single script and embraces a path that can be joyful, expansive and fulfilling.Because there is more to life than “partnered and happy” or “single and searching.”There is solo and thriving.Hosted by best-selling author and award-winning journalist, Jill Stark, this podcast isfor anyone who’s ever been told that being single makes you incomplete. Or that lifewill only begin when you find “the one”.To leave “well enough alone” means to stop trying to change something that isalready good enough.What if the one you’ve been looking for is you? Could embracing your single statusrather than fearing it be the key to a happy life?Jill talks to inspiring guests, some who are single and some who aren’t,about what they’ve learned from time spent in their own company, and interviewsleading experts in psychology, human behaviour, business, health and wellbeing,about how to thrive alone.