Living Fully While Being Solo

This question comes from Trish, and it's on relationships. Hi, my name is Trish, and my question is, is it necessary to have a relationship in order to have a fulfilled life? I'm 26, female, and I have never been in a relationship. Often, when I'm surrounded by my friends, I feel left out, and I cannot relate to them. Even though I'm pretty successful in my life, I sometimes feel it would be nice to have someone to share my life with. I want to healthily approach this, but at the same time, too afraid to make the wrong decisions. My previous dating experiences have left me ghosted, or there's always some communication gap. I want to do better and wanted some advice. Thank you. Well, Trish, I'm so proud of you for all that you have done, for who you are for your friends, and the relationships that you are in. Relationships are hard, especially when we become adults. Trying to build relationships and explore vulnerability and intimacy, it all gets tricky, especially in a world where sometimes surface level is the norm, and you might be a person that prefers to go deeper with people. I know you mentioned in your question that you said you're too afraid to make the wrong decisions. There is no wrong decision. Explore, be on an adventure with yourself, and that opens up the door to new people coming in, new opportunities. Relationships and intimacy comes in many, many, many, many, many, many forms. It might be a romantic partnership, it might be a new bestie, it might be a new pet, it might be all the things, but it starts with you being you and exploring so much about you and opening yourself up to what the world has to offer. And I hope that you give yourself permission to do that. It's also important to remember that you can hold two things at one time. You can yearn for an intimate relationship while also really enjoying yourself, being solo, enjoying your alone time, enjoying the adventure of learning more about you, so when that intimate relationship comes into your life, you are greeting them as a whole person who's fully aware of what they want out of life, what is important to them, your own value system, so that you're able to truly connect with someone, let them know the things that you like, let them learn you and be curious about you. This is all very exciting. My hope is that you open yourself up to the adventure that you have access to. I'm excited for you, and I'm also just really proud of you, and I appreciate you for sending in this question, because it's really hard to have this conversation with people. So I hope that this was helpful in answering your question. And if you have any questions you'd like to submit for a future episode of Ask a Therapist, please reach out. I'd love...