How to Be Single and Happy: Science-Based Strategies for Keeping Your Sanity While Looking for a Soulmate
By: Jennifer L. Taitz PsyD ABPP / Narrated By: Amanda Setton
Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
Don’t let the “science” turn you off! Chockfull of things a good therapist would tell you!
I think How to Be Single and Happy is good for anyone, even if you are in a happy relationship. Because we all have problems, we all have emotional scars, and not all of us have had the opportunity, or been so fortunate as, to work with a really great therapist. Seriously, this is all stuff my current, and awesome, therapist has been trying to bang into my head for a few years now.
It’s mostly about the way we think and choose to see things. It’s about “reframing” our thoughts and ideas and not letting baser emotions take hold. We can choose to think we’re doomed to a life filled with loneliness and a houseful of cats, or we can say that we’re enjoying each current day just as it is. It’s about sometimes doing the opposite of what our fear-based emotions want to do, not because it’ll feel good afterwards but will make our lives richer in the long run. Why stay home when you can do something out in the world? You may not immediately enjoy it, but it will definitely expand your horizons.
Then too, this audiobook is heavy on the new millennium’s go-to word: Mindfulness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The concept has been around for ages, and if you’ve ever done a lick of yoga, you know what it is (even if you don’t practice it—seriously, I have a gazillion and six hamsters running around in my brain). If you’re in the moment, taking pleasure in something, you’re not spacing out and spazzing out about how dire your situation is.
The audiobook does occasionally say things like: Look at the chart below, leading one to believe that one is missing out on what’s in the print copy. But I didn’t hear anything that left me feeling confused or frustrated about not having access to whatever. So it’s all good.
Amanda Setton does a jolly decent job with narration. Nonfiction is hard to make entertaining; it’s hard to keep a person focused, especially when so many studies and statistics are gone over. But her voice is smooth, with just enough rough edges to keep you focused (not so smooth that it becomes a drone, and you fall asleep…).
Even though I’m in a most happy marriage, I found a lot that I could use just to become a better person with a deeper, more meaningful life. My therapist would be thrilled.
Then too, if you listen all the way through, there is the funny bit that, boy! Jennifer L. Taitz is mighty peeved about not getting wedding presents outta some of her closest friends. But she goes on to reframe her attitude to the situation, so all is well and good. PHEW, for her friends, right?!?
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