Put a Ring on It
Tracy McMillan is a television writer for “Mad Men” and the author of Why You’re Not Married… Yet. She gave her Tedx talk in February 2014 at TedxOlympicBlvd Women. Her talk was titled: “The Person You Really Need To Marry.” Spoiler alert! The person is you.
I’ve been joking lately here on my travels that I am marrying myself. I bought a beautiful ring in India, that looks like a casual engagement ring with it’s large, clear stone. It also gives the impression of being an engagement ring because I wear it on my ring finger on my left hand.
As a solo female traveler in Asia, it’s not quite a daily question, but it’s an every-other-day-or-so question, “Are you married?” Sometimes it’s curiosity, but some other times it’s to see if you’re available or not. After months of traveling Asia, and upon my arrival in India, I decided it was time to get myself a ring.
Not only does this ring serve as a shield, but it also is a symbol of my commitment to myself. As Tracy McMillan says, “I am a person that I can count on.” I have married myself because I choose me. I choose to love myself, take care of myself, and commit to my own happiness and wellbeing. For richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, and to have and to hold. I take and commit to myself.
I laughed alongside Tracy McMillan as she said, “Life does not give you what you ask for. It gives you the people, places, and situations that allows you to develop what you ask for.” Her reference was, “You ask for patience. What you get is a line at the bank.”
On my journey, I’ve asked life for many things and I’ve also discovered that life loves to send me right back to kindergarten to learn my lessons the hard way. Life will teach us lessons until we learn them. Life has shown me, time and time again, that I need to be my own best friend, my own companion, my own partner. As Tracy McMillan says, life and the act of committing to myself has taught me, “How to sit by my own bedside, how to hold my own hand, and how to nurse myself.”
There is no greater, longer, extensive, nor expansive relationship you’ll ever have than the one you have to yourself. You are with you for your whole life. From start to finish. You’re there. So baby, put a ring on it.
Check out the video here:
