Jane Austin, Coco Chanel And 11 Other Historical Figures Who Were Happily Single
There can be a tendency to (falsely) assume that people who aren’t in romantic relationships are “incomplete,” or that they’re lying when they say they’re happy being single.
Some people do want to be in a relationship, but we do single people a disservice when we automatically assume that’s their situation. Especially because it turns out we’ve been wrong about a lot of our societal ideas about singledom and happiness.
“There is a huge misconception that being alone and lonely are the same,” Hebrew University professor Elyakim Kislev, whose past research uncovered the benefits of single living, previously told HuffPost Canada.
His work matches up with other research that found single women without children — far from the miserable cat lady spinster stereotype we’re so used to — are actually happier and healthier than married moms.
In the spirit of happy singledom, we’ve rounded up some of the historical figures who were happy to be alone.