Bachelorette Tayshia Adams Gets Real About Choosing to Be Single: 'Maybe Applaud Me for Not Settling'

Though she famously looked for a life partner on The Bachelorette, Tayshia Adams is happy to be "focusing on [her] career solo" for now.

Adams, 31, responded to a comment on her Instagram Wednesday night that claimed she had taken "a detour from … wanting to be married and starting a family."

Next to next to a photo of Adams, wearing a patterned purple and black dress, posing against a white brick that she captioned, "Slow Down, Grab the Wall…," the commenter wrote that marriage and family are "not for everyone so it's good that you realized your career is more important before you got married can you imagine how much more difficult that would have made things."

Instead of ignoring the comment, Adams took the opportunity to share some thoughts with her 1.7 million followers on the platform.

She asked, "Did I take a detour or am I just living and enjoying my life in its current season?"

She continued, "I still want marriage and to start a family more than anything so what I BELIEVE you meant in referring to what I "realized" is actually - waiting to be in a healthy supportive relationship while simultaneously being a successful woman; a cohesive unit, not one or the other."

Adams first joined Bachelor Nation as a contestant on season 23 of The Bachelor, finishing in the top three in 2019. She then joined the cast of the sixth season of Bachelor in Paradise, briefly dating fellow contestant John Paul Jones.

In 2020, Adams became the Bachelorette and got engaged to Zac Clark on season 16 of The Bachelorette after Clare Crawley left the show after less than two weeks with a ring from Dale Moss (with whom she split in January 2021).

As for Adams and Clark, a rep for Adams confirmed to PEOPLE in November 2021 that the pair "are no longer a couple."

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In Wednesday's Instagram comment, Adams reminded her followers: "I think some of you fail to remember that I stated this at the beginning of my journey. I want to build an empire, I want to go after my dreams and I want my partner to be supportive of that as they follow their own dreams as well."

She continued, "I want a relationship where we cheer each other on. None of that has changed. So before you confuse the fact that I'm in the wrong for focusing on my career solo rather than with someone by my side and not 'wanting to be married and starting a family, which is not for everyone', (which is incredibly rude to say BTW) Maybe applaud me for not settling, staying to true to myself, going after my dreams and working on myself in the interim to be the best version of me for the right person."

Adams co-hosted Katie Thurston and Michelle Young's season of The Bachelorette alongside Kaitlyn Bristowe in 2021, but it was recently confirmed that neither of them will be returning to host the next season.