A Woman living alone: The “STIGMA”

In a mostly-conservative society, living alone raises questions about a woman. With no clear “explanation” of why a woman is “choosing or not choosing” to live alone, for e.g.: Her parents are living in another country (or state), she doesn’t have parents, abusive parents, bullying siblings, her parent’s house is far from her job or university…etc. WHY will be the FAQ as a woman.

It’s totally understandable; since Jordan is a conservative country with a majority population of Muslims 97.2% (a big portion of which are conservatives) and a minority of other religions 2.8% (also mostly conservatives).

With that being said, a stigma is there for a fact and it’s not going anywhere unless we talk about it!

We’re so over the shaming of women over their choice of living independently; regardless of the reason(s)!

Strong independent woman: A joke!

People are throwing this word around as a type of joke nowadays. Truth be told, it’s absolutely tough to both become and be a strong independent woman.

Healthy independence (opposite to hyper-independence) means that a woman has (and develops with time) the necessary skills to survive (and thrive) emotionally and financially without the support (or interference) of any other 3rd party (parents, relatives, friends). AKA having no security cushion to lean back on when things go sideways.

Being on your own teaches you some skills that can not be taught (nor absorbed) otherwise. Some of the skills you’ll acquire are:

1. Ability to communicate better with different types of people (in case you lived with flatmates).
2. The skill of setting boundaries; e.g.: time, cooking, and space boundaries. AKA learning to say “NO”! (This is applicable if you live with flatmates)
3. And by living alone, you’ll learn to: do grocery shopping, not-easily fooled, money management, time management, commitment & discipline, stick to goals, strengthen your personality, not depend on anybody for mental health (mental health sufficiency), cooking, the skill of creating a financial cushion.
4. Fixing stuff.
5. Building your own network and developing connections

I hope that we can be kinder to each other and respect each other’s journey!