Romantic partner? Who needs one when it’s friends who truly help us get through life | Sonia Sodha

I'm sceptical of happily ever after'. Platonic love is the key to wellbeing

The importance of romantic love is drummed into us from early childhood. Popular culture and advertising conspire to tell us that there's one route to a fulfilled life: finding the love of your life, who holds the key to your happily ever after.

Modern trends in romantic relationships get anxiously picked over through the cliche of happily ever after: people settling down and having children later, the fact that twice as many marriages end in divorce today than they did in 1970. But these trends don't tell us that romantic happiness has become more elusive. Instead, they reflect social progress and the dismantling of taboos and that the belief in romantic love as the route to fulfilment is more myth than reality for many.

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