South Korea has declared its super-low birthrate a “national emergency” and invested billions into encouraging citizens to marry and reproduce. However, one YouTuber, Seen Aromi, has found happiness and success by promoting the opposite ideal. At her home in rural South Korea, Seen practices yoga, sleeps in as long as she wants, and encourages her more than 200,000 YouTube followers to not feel afraid, ashamed, or guilty about being single.
“Not getting married is my greatest achievement,” 37-year-old Seen told AFP, emphasizing that she never saw becoming a “good” wife or mother as the ultimate purpose of her life. She criticized the notion that women not having children in South Korea is a “disaster,” referring to the country’s impending demographic crisis, which has the world’s lowest birth rate and a rapidly aging population. For Seen, the potential downsides of not having children are nonexistent.
Seen’s book, “I Can’t Help but Live Well On My Own,” celebrates the joy she discovered in rejecting societal expectations and embracing solo living. It has become an unexpected bestseller in South Korea, briefly topping a major bestseller chart. The book resonated not only with other single women in their 30s but also with older generations, including those who had experienced widowhood or divorce. In her book, Seen enthusiastically wrote about the freedom to be as lazy as she desired without facing criticism, stating, “While some people might marry because they dislike being alone, others choose not to meet anyone simply because they enjoy lying around.”
Experts suggest that many young Koreans are opting out of marriage and child-rearing due to economic factors, such as stagnant growth, exorbitant home prices in Seoul, and fierce competition for well-paying jobs. However, broader cultural issues also play a role, as the country remains socially conservative, with single parenthood being stigmatized, same-sex marriage not recognized, and married women often leaving the workforce, spending 3.5 times more hours per day on household chores and childcare than their male counterparts.
For Seen, letting go of the traditional South Korean markers of success – a Seoul apartment, a high-paying job, and a loving spouse – has allowed her to find genuine happiness. She has never worked for a large corporation, lived in the city, or been married. After living abroad for years, working various jobs, and sharing her life experiences online, she returned to South Korea and settled in a rural town, renovating her late grandfather’s old family house. Her YouTube channel has grown in popularity, amassing over 200,000 subscribers, and a single video now earns her five times more than her previous monthly salary in Seoul, enabling her to lead a much more autonomous and satisfying life.
Despite the backlash she has faced online, with critics claiming she must be lonely or labeling her as “selfish” for not getting married, Seen remains steadfast in her belief that her happiness should be respected, just as married people’s happiness is rarely criticized. She has been in several fulfilling relationships but prioritizes her autonomy and adventurous lifestyle over starting a family.
The fact that her book has become a runaway success proves that you “can still be the best at something even though you live a non-mainstream life,” she said. Most couples who have children do it because it will make them happy, not out of concern for humanity’s future – and people who live alone have also made choices aimed at happiness, which should be respected, she said.
Seen told AFP that she was proud of her contributions to the world. While others were having children, she said, “I gave birth to two YouTube channels and a book.”
Source: AFP
