As you know, more and more people are delaying marriage or not getting married at all. In the previous hundred plus years, however, nearly everyone got married, but was that always the best choice? In this episode, writer and high school teacher Mary Dahm returns to join Peter McGraw for a fun conversation that looks at some people in history who shouldn’t have gotten married. That is, if they were alive today, they would likely be solo. Peter and Mary end the episode by discussing some fun quotes about marriage.   Note: This episode was taped prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet it seems especially fitting as the pandemic is causing people to re-evaluate their lives. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today:

This is the second part of Peter McGraw’s conversation with Amy Gahran, the author of Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator: Uncommon Love and Life. They delve deeply into a conversation about solo living as an alternative to the relationship escalator. As a result, Amy helps Peter better define what it means to be solo. Here is a hint: the focus is on autonomy – whether you are single or partnered. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the Solo community today:

This is the first of two episodes with Amy Gahran, the author of Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator: Uncommon Love and Life. Amy joins Peter McGraw to talk about what it means to ride the relationship escalator – the difficult obligations it entails yet privileges it also creates. Peter and Amy discuss what it means to step off the escalator into an unconventional relationship, which can be stigmatized yet opens opportunities for a remarkable life. They also discuss how relationships success should be defined, the difference between consensual non-monogamy and polyamory, and why “sexual friendships” is a better term than “friends with benefits.” Amy will return in a subsequent episode to talk more deeply about solo living as an alternative to the relationship escalator.   Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today:

Do you have aging parents? This week’s guest, Leighann Lord, is a stand-up comic and solo caregiver for elderly parents. Peter McGraw and Leighann discuss the challenges of being a caregiver and how those responsibilities are often taken up by people who are not married with children. Leighann gives tips for caregivers, and they finish by discussing some ways to begin prepping for getting older yourself.   Note: This episode was taped prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet it seems especially fitting as the pandemic is causing people to re-evaluate their lives. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today:

In this episode, Peter McGraw speaks to David Jay, an asexuality activist, about what it means to be asexual. They discuss the prevalence of asexuality in the population, as well as their shared perspective about the importance of being connected to a wide array of people. If you stick around to the end, they recap by defining terms that are often overlooked when talking about people’s sexual and romantic preferences. Note: Peter is still in the desert and dealing with less than ideal equipment. Please be patient with the sound quality. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today:

Living a remarkable life should be fun, but it takes work. This episode is on the more serious side. Money Amy returns (from episode seven) to address the financial distress that some listeners are experiencing due to the pandemic. Peter McGraw and Amy talk about tactics to get your financial house in order (and your house in order, more generally). A few things to be ready for: 1) you are going to need to dedicate some real time to figuring out your financial situation, 2) you will need to make sacrifices – in other words, you must learn to stop spending money on things that are not truly important, and 3) you may have to make big changes to your housing situation – maybe even get rid of your car. If you stick around to the end, Peter gives a few book recommendations and make a case for the opportunity to build a better financial future and to pivot your career and maybe start a side hustle that could become a new business.   Note: This episode was taped prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet it seems especially fitting as the pandemic is causing people to re-evaluate their lives. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today:

Single people are way cooler than married people, right? To answer this question, Peter McGraw turns to Caleb Warren, who has developed “the” theory of coolness. In this week’s bonus material, Peter presents some cool people, and Caleb uses his theory to explains what makes them cool.   Note: This episode was taped prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet it seems especially fitting as the pandemic is causing people to re-evaluate their lives. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today:

In the second part of this two-part series, Peter McGraw continues his conversation with Martie Haselton, a scientist who specializes in evolutionary psychology, and Shane Mauss, a comic who has material about dating and mating from an evolutionary perspective. The guests continue their far-ranging conversation covering topics from how the modern mind has not adapted to the invention of birth control, to why children may be viewed as parasites, to the puzzles that evolutionary psychology struggles to answer. They also explore the tension between a solo lifestyle, people’s evolutionary motives, and a culture shaped by ancestral desires.   Note: This episode was taped prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet it seems especially fitting as the pandemic is causing people to re-evaluate their lives. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today:

In the first part of this two-part series, Peter McGraw talks to Martie Haselton, a scientist who specializes in evolutionary psychology and Shane Mauss, a comic who has material about dating and mating from an evolutionary perspective. The guests present a primer on evolutionary psychology, and they have a far-ranging conversation covering topics from how the modern mind has not adapted to the invention of birth control, to why children may be viewed as parasites, to the puzzles that evolutionary psychology struggles to answer. They also explore the tension between a solo lifestyle, people’s evolutionary motives, and a culture shaped by ancestral desires.   Note: This episode was taped prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet it seems especially fitting as the pandemic is causing people to re-evaluate their lives. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today:

What if the hero’s journey isn’t the best story structure to describe the process of becoming unapologetically unattached? This episode examines an alternative to the hero’s journey with the unfortunate name of The Virgin’s Promise. I speak to Kimberly Kessler, who presents this alternative model as a way to escape human domestication and thrive as a single person. She also relates The Virgin’s Promise to well-known stories, such as Cinderella, Frozen, Billy Elliot, and even Rocky. If you stick around for the bonus material, Kim, who is married with children, talks about how non-solos can support their solo friends and family.   Note: This episode was taped prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet it seems especially fitting as the pandemic is causing people to re-evaluate their lives. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Join the I’m Not Joking community today: