Falling for Me
By GalTime .com. Posted on .
By Marianne Beach, GalTime.com
We've all had those moments where we wake up wondering when our lives are going to begin. Whether we're Fortune 500 executives or stay-at-home moms, we question the paths we've taken and where to go from here.
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Author Anna David was no exception, waking up one morning single, in her thirties, with two cats and no hot prospects on the horizon. But rather then succumbing to what she calls "single woman shame", she decided to try something a bit unconventional. She followed all the advice found in the 1962 self help book, Sex and the Single Girl, penned by legendary Cosmo maven Helen Gurley Brown.
From French lessons to windsurfing, David thought her journey to self improvement would enable her to attract the man of her dreams. But as she writes in her new memoir, Falling for Me, she ended up attracting someone much more important...herself.
We asked Anna to tell us a little bit about her journey.
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Obviously at least at some point in her life, every woman will examine her choices and wonder if she made the best ones. What was that point in your life and what did you conclude?
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My point came when I was about 10 years sober and I realized, for literally the first time in my life, that I actually wanted to have a traditional relationship: to get married and, if possible, raise a child with that person. It sounds crazy to some but it had never really occurred to me before then that this might be an appealing option. I always looked at marriage as a sort of last resort. I'd spent the first part of my life really anesthetizing myself from my feelings and then, when I got sober, I just became obsessed with my career. I always dated-and even felt deep love twice-but it wasn't until a decade into my sobriety when I suddenly realized, "Oh, God. I am traditional after all. I want the same thing all those women I've always derided want." I fell into a major depression when I actually faced that because it felt like I was too late to the party. But then I decided to try to do something about the fact that I felt like that.
You call it "Single Woman Shame." Define that for us, if you will.
