As with many of my fellow Gen Z-ers do during the days of COVID, I spend much of my time on the video sharing platform "TikTok", which, for all of its faults, occasionally offers a slight chuckle or a bit of relatable content. However, one trend I have been seeing lately has disturbed me somewhat. There are an abundance of videos of single folks sharing their mutual woes about their singlehood. Which is certainly fair- it's rare that people find themselves enjoying that state of being (at least, while they are in the midst of it). But some videos, the most serious of which feature people in a deep depression or even bordering on self harm, scream in pain about how they have not met their "soulmate."
There is good news and bad news regarding this bit of trouble. The good news is that this is exceedingly common and growing more common by the day.
The bad news? Soulmates don't exist.
How could they? After all, statistically speaking, what is the likelihood that there is truly ONE PERSON out there for you that can be perfectly compatible for you- and not only that, that they would just so happen to be near you when they could be any ONE of seven billion people across a multitude of countries? In addition, the belief in the "soul mate" is a new idea historically speaking. It's certainly mentioned nowhere in the Bible, the Torah or the Quran. In fact, in those days, many partners was common practice, and monogamy exceedingly rare.
The idea of the soulmate is a new idea perpetuated by the romantics, and a harmful one at that. It tells us that if we cannot find out one person, we have failed. But know this- you CANNOT fail this, because truly, there is no "one person" for you. Remember, compatibility is a reward for a healthy relationship, not a prerequisite for finding one.