Relationships

Why Being Single in Your 30s Might Be Exactly Where You’re Meant to Be, According to ‘We Met At Acme’

December 16, 2025

You’re watching your Instagram feed fill up with engagement rings and baby announcements while you’re still swiping through Hinge on your couch. The timeline you imagined for yourself—married by 28, kids by 30—is starting to feel like a cruel joke. But what if being “behind” is actually putting you exactly where you need to be?

On We Met At Acme, host Lindsey Metselaar sits down with fashion and motherhood influencer Lindsi Lane, who didn’t meet her husband, Aaron Watts, until 31 and wouldn’t change a thing. Whether you’re panicking about your dating life or just tired of the societal spiral, these three truths are the reminder you didn’t know you needed.

The right person will give you space to fall in love

One of the biggest myths floating around dating culture is that if something is right, it has to feel instant. Immediate certainty. Immediate chemistry. Immediate commitment. If it doesn’t click fast, we assume it’s not worth sticking around for. That, however, isn’t always the case.

Lane explains that when she met Watts, she wasn’t fully available yet, and she didn’t pretend to be. She was dating other people, in a different headspace, and coming off a relationship that had taken a real emotional toll. Instead of pushing her to move faster, he met her with patience and consistency—two things that feel increasingly rare in swipe culture, where everyone is chasing the next option.

At one point early on, he made his intentions clear without turning them into an expectation. Sitting across from her at a restaurant, he told her, “I’m not swiping anymore and I’m not dating anymore.” Not as a demand. Just a statement. Lane remembers responding with a simple, “Thank you, that’s so sweet.” She wasn’t ready to match his level of commitment yet—and he didn’t punish her for it.

That’s the green flag. Not love-bombing, not pressure, not “where is this going?” energy on date three. Just someone who’s clear and doesn’t make you feel like you’re running out of time. When dating feels calm instead of low-key stressful, you’re usually doing it right.

Your 20s are for you

There’s a very specific panic that hits in your late 20s. One day you’re fine, the next you’re watching everyone around you get engaged, married, pregnant—sometimes all three—while you’re still figuring out what you actually want. It starts to feel like you’re falling behind, even if your life feels…good. Lane says that pressure is exactly what people need to ignore.

“I have no regrets in my life, I really don’t,” she says. “But I really wish I honed into focusing more on myself in my 20s because I was always in a relationship. I just wish I almost had a little more fun and took into account what I wanted and just being a little more free-spirited with myself.”

The thing is, the rush to couple up young isn’t even based on reality anymore—it’s based on outdated expectations that never got the memo. The version of adulthood we were sold doesn’t match how people are actually living now. Most people aren’t getting married straight out of their early 20s, and they’re not supposed to. That second decade isn’t meant for settling. It’s meant for experimenting, evolving, and figuring out who you are when no one else gets to decide for you.

“Girls, if you’re in your 20s, you’re jumping around right now and you’re having the time of your life, stick to that,” Lane says. “Don’t feel pressure, like do not feel pressure.”

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Throw out the timeline

“I never thought I’d be a month away from 40 having my second kid,” Lane admits. “I was supposed to be done with a whole brood of children when I was like 30. I didn’t even meet Aaron till I was 31.” That gap—between how life actually unfolded and how she thought it should—is the whole point.

Lane never treated age milestones like deadlines. Even when friends were settling down, even when expectations were loud, she didn’t force herself into a version of life just to keep pace. She trusted that things would happen when they were supposed to, not when a mental checklist said they should.

That mindset matters, especially now, when timelines feel more aggressive than ever. Married by 30. Kids immediately after. Two under two. “Get that out of your head,” Lane says. “That’s absolutely absurd. Do what’s good for you and your husband and your family and your spouse.” Life isn’t a group project, and there’s no bonus for finishing early.

For more insights, tune into We Met At Acme, streaming now wherever you get your podcasts.