Not so long ago, the actress Emma Watson wrote about being ‘self-partnered’, a term she used during an interview, when asked about her marital status.
When I read this, I knew that self-partnered didn’t resonate for me – it’s too long-winded for a start. And perhaps it’s the self that I don’t like – a legacy of our society, albeit rapidly changing as we become increasingly aware of the importance of self-care, and that self-care is not selfish, but in fact leads us towards being quite the opposite.
As an alternative, single doesn’t work for me either. It sounds very much like we are lacking something, or in this conversation, someone.
And yet none of us are lacking, no matter our status: single, married, divorced, partnered, self-partnered or even multi-partnered.
We are all completely whole.
So when I heard the term self-partnered, I self-corrected it. Instead of single, I see whole. And surely that’s the best foundation for a partnership anyway.
