UR 147: Party of One: Celebrating Singleness — Joy Beth Smith

Traylor and Melody are joined by author Joy Beth Smith to discuss her book, Party of One, celebrating seasons of singleness, and finding other joys in life. Joy talks through her upbringing and various aspects of it that have impacted who she is as a person, a christian and a single. She discusses how she has had a desire to have a husband throughout her life, but she also appreciates her singleness as its own beautiful, life giving time on its own. Joy emphasizes that a season of singleness doesn’t mean you put your life on pause. There are so many things that single women put off because they are waiting for marriage. Something as simple as buying dishes for your house or taking a trip because you “want to do that with your husband”. She encourages women to live their life. Don’t live in the limbo of waiting. Do things you desire and buy things you love. That leads to an opportunity to combine lives with someone without losing your individuality. Joy discusses her experiences with dating and how as a bold, independent woman impacts dealing with the dating world. She discusses her thoughts on how single women are empowered and how this often times shuts men down leading to a insecure man in the dating world. Joy Beth Smith is a managing editor with Christianity Today and winner of the Evangelical Press Association’s Higher Goals in Christian Journalism Award. She’s been published in the Washington Post, Salt Lake Tribune, Virginia Pilot, and Christ and Pop Culture. After earning her MA degree in English Lit, Joy Beth had a brief stint as a teacher, but now she happily resides in the Chicagoland area, where she no longer has to give anyone permission to go to the bathroom.