Professor Bob Waldinger

I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist.

As opposed to the people who face toward a challenge and take steps to cope with it.

Well, actually, some people sometimes ask me when I give a talk about this, they say, you know, if I don't have a partner, am I doomed?

Should I just throw myself in front of a bus?

And I say, no, absolutely not.

So it's whether we cultivate close relationships.

So all of us, we think,

need at least one or two people who we're close to, who we feel would be there if we needed them, who we feel we could talk to about personal matters.

All of us need that.

But it doesn't have to be a romantic partner.

It could be a friend.

It could be a sibling.

It could be a workmate.

Exactly, exactly.

Sometimes people live in very distant marriages and they're very lonely.

On the other hand, there are people who aren't married who are totally happy with their social connections, right?

Yes, I have.

So I'm a Harvard professor.

I could work 24-7, do nothing but work.

And I realized if I keep doing this, I'm going to end up so alone.