While women on TikTok manifest their dream partners to Dua Lipa’s “Training Season,” new research shows that singlehood can be a fulfilling season of its own.
The 2024 song is trending again in 2026, with women using it to manifest the kind of partner they want. Dua Lipa once described the track as a form of manifestation, saying the words she writes can become a mantra. After she married Callum Turner, the internet, as we know it, took notes.
It is fun and relatable because, really, who does not want a good partner to share life with? But while everyone is busy manifesting “the one,” new research offers a timely reminder—being single does not mean your life has yet to begin.
In fact, it may be helping you grow.
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Researchers found room for growth in singlehood
A 2026 study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin explored what researchers call “singlehood self-expansion potential.”
Self-expansion means gaining new skills, interests, relationships, and perspectives that broaden your sense of who you are. Researchers have often studied this growth within romantic relationships. A partner may introduce you to new people, places and ways of seeing the world. Lead author Elina Moreno and her colleagues wanted to know if singlehood could offer similar opportunities.
They conducted three preregistered studies involving 600 single participants. The first followed 130 people through daily surveys for 14 days. The second surveyed 146 participants every week for six weeks. The third placed 324 participants in an experiment involving novel or routine activities.
People who believed singlehood could help them grow reported more self-expanding experiences. These included traveling, hiking, learning skills, playing sports and trying unfamiliar restaurants. They also reported greater satisfaction with singlehood and life overall. They felt more autonomous, competent and connected to others, and less afraid of remaining single.
As cliché as it sounds, single does not have to mean alone
The participants did not always pursue these experiences by themselves. In the weekly study, 82 percent of their self-expanding activities involved friends, family members or other people close to them. Only 18 percent happened alone.
The finding matters because singlehood and loneliness are often treated as the same thing. They are not. Romantic love is one kind of connection, but it is not the only relationship that can make life meaningful. Friends, relatives, colleagues and communities can provide support, introduce us to new interests and help us discover different parts of ourselves.
A person can have no romantic partner and still have a life filled with companionship and love (I can attest!), as Taylor Swift put it.
Your outlook matters, but it is not magic
People with higher self-esteem and greater satisfaction with singlehood were more likely to see their status as an opportunity for growth. Those who believed a romantic relationship was necessary for happiness saw less potential in being single. Still, the researchers found that changing this outlook was difficult.
In the third study, participants who imagined exciting future activities reported a better mood and stronger feelings of self-expansion. However, the exercise did not significantly change their deeper beliefs about singlehood.
The research also has limitations. Many participants were young adults, and the first study had an average age of about 23. Younger people may have more time or social freedom to explore than older adults managing work, family and financial responsibilities.
Many benefits were also strongest on the day an activity happened. The results show a connection between outlook, new experiences and well-being, but they do not prove that being single automatically creates lasting happiness.
Choice matters as well. Someone who enjoys being single may experience it differently from someone who deeply wants a relationship but has struggled to find one.
You can want marriage without waiting for your life to start
The research may feel familiar to anyone who has spent years building a life outside a romantic relationship.
I have been single for 10 years and have never seriously tried “dating-dating” after my 7-year relationship ended in a messy and heartbreaking breakup. It is not because I have rejected love. I have simply been busy navigating adulthood, developing my career and carrying the responsibilities of being a breadwinner and sole provider.
At 34, I still want marriage. Who does not want a good person to share life with? I can be delulu over my K-pop biases or Harry Styles and still imagine having a partner someday.
But I have also traveled alone, met wonderful people and learned things I once thought I would only experience after getting married. My career grew, my spirituality deepened and my relationships with the people around me blossomed.
Being orphaned and single can be difficult, but my life is not empty. I have two dogs, a supportive circle and the freedom to work, explore and help others. This has become one of the most precious seasons of my life.
Of course, the titas and relatives still ask the usual questions.
“Kailan ka mag-aasawa?”
“Why don’t you put yourself out there?”
“Try dating. Baka kasi hindi ka naghahanap.”
They usually mean well. In many Filipino families, marriage remains an expected milestone. If you are still single in your 30s, people assume you must be lonely, too busy or not trying hard enough. The truth is that dating requires time and effort, and I do not have much space for it right now. I remain open to love. I simply do not want to force it because other people think I am running late.
My experience does not represent every single person or prove the study’s findings. It shows what the researchers’ central idea can look like in real life: You can desire partnership while finding purpose in the years you spend without one.
Build the life instead of waiting for it
Self-expansion does not require an expensive solo trip or a dramatic reinvention.
It can mean taking a class, learning a skill, visiting a new place or finally trying a hobby you keep saving for later. You can join a sports team, book club, volunteer group or faith community. You can bring a friend or go alone.
But being single is not automatically better than being married, and marriage does not guarantee fulfillment. Both can bring love, challenges and opportunities to grow.
So go ahead and manifest your Callum Turner. Sing the Dua Lipa song, stay open to love and know what you want in a partner. Just do not forget to enjoy the person you are becoming before that partner arrives. Singlehood is not a waiting room, and marriage is not the starting line.
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