Yeah, absolutely. But that’s surviorship bias. If my relationship wasn’t worth it, I wouldn’t stay in it. The real cost isn’t the effort getting there, it’s the daily effort keeping it working. Dealing with your own shit, and someone else’s can be exhausting.

But, for lots of lucky people it’s totally worth it. My partner brings me so much joy, at a deep level, and also a lot of silly entertainment like any good friend. And although it’s a lot of work, they also constantly make my life simpler and help me with the things I can’t handle.

And I don’t know your situation, but I never saw myself as being with someone. And then, pretty randomly, I’m my late 30s, having never ‘dated’ or been in a real relationship, I ended up meeting up with someone and now we’re married and have had many happy (and sometimes difficult) years together. I never expected it to happen, and I certainly didn’t expect to love it as much as I do. But anything can happen, as long as you remain open to possibility.

Also, loads of people lave and prefer being single. It’s just the ones in relationships are going to be (mostly) ones that it’s working for.

Inductive reasoning. I don’t have any non-circular reason to believe that previous experience should predict future events. But I’m gonna believe it anyway.