IS IT SO WRONG TO BE SINGLE?

Ever since I was a little girl, I was conditioned to think that the be-all and end-all was marriage.

- STEPHANIE ZUBIRI

Every single cartoon, every fairytale ended up with the girl marrying her prince and living happily ever after.

Why must all relationships end in marriage? And why must happiness always include a partner? Why is it so wrong to be single?

After two marriages, I am in no hurry, really, to tie the knot again and have come to even question its necessity. Must we have binding contracts that keep us together? Can't this be a choice made every day? What about all these new kinds of relationships? Ones with different rules and lifestyles? I'm not saying there's no happily ever after, I'm just wondering if it must all look the same, which is making it down the aisle.

Even Disney has caught up to this; the last few releases don't see the heroine getting married, many of them don't even have a love interest. look at Moana and Mirabel from Encanto, they find joy in purpose, in following their hearts and in having love for themselves and for those around them.

Neither of them needed a partner to complete them or their story.

My last guest on Soulful Feasts is a perfect specimen of unconventional; choosing self-authority and living his most authentic self, the lifelong bachelor by choice, DJ Tony Toni of Boy's Night Out on Magic 89.9.

Tony has been single for over 25 years and is happy this way. "It started when I first moved here from Canada," he explains. "It was more of a financial decision because I was just beginning my career but then it became a conscious choice." He admits that in the beginning it was fun and the unsettledness and spontaneity of youth was a driving factor.