Top 5 Reasons Why Being Single is More Fun

If you are feeling rather blue because almost all of your friends are paired up while you remain single, here are some reasons why being single is more fun.

Better Relationships with Family and Friends

When you are single, you tend to stay at home more or go out with your family. You get to talk to each other, share ideas, and bond. You will start to appreciate the little things among your family members.

Dating too much can have its toll on you. You will eventually get tired and you tend to value being with your friends more than finding the perfect man.

More “Me” Time

You do not have to check or update your status on social media. You do not have to check on anyone anymore. There is also no need to check your phone every now and then if there is something that you’ve missed. You do not have to wait for a call or text that does not come. You can concentrate on improving yourself and you do not have to answer to anyone but yourself.

Being alone is totally okay

You are content in being alone and prefer to be left alone at times. Today, every one seems to want to be in the company of someone else. By being used to going solo, you can be independent.

Free to Meet New People

Being single means that you get to meet and be friends with different kinds of people. It also means that you get to choose a partner and would not settle for just anyone.

Maturity

You know your worth and you know that you have to love yourself first before loving someone else. As you enjoy your being single, you grow to be a mature person emotionally.

10 Effective Tips to Get Over Your Ex

Break-ups are among the most painful experiences that many of us have to undergo. The pain of losing someone whom you shared your love with and looked forward to a future with – gone. This can be a devastating feeling to many and each of us has to cope somehow in order to be able to move on.

Breaking up with your partner can bring back so many memories of past relationships that have failed, betrayals, and other sad memories in life. Healing takes time because you have to go through stages before you can accept everything that happened. The old adage “Time heals all wounds” is true.

Oftentimes, there are those who get stuck in with their ex that they are not able to move on. They blame themselves, they try to find out what went wrong and the “what-ifs” come crashing down heavily on them. They get anxious, they get depressed, they get false hopes of reconciliation.

To help you survive a break-up and avoid getting stuck with the thoughts of your ex, here are some ways that you can follow.

1. Allow yourself to grieve and let it all out

One of the effective tips to get over your ex is to grieve completely. The first few days of a break-up, you might want to let the whole world know that you are well and moving on. Let’s say that you have just ended a five-year relationship – it is fair enough that you let yourself grieve for a while. Putting on a false face that you have moved on is totally unbelievable. Don’t fool yourself. Call your friends and pour it all out.

Grieving varies from person to person. Some grieve by crying, writing, talking with friends, drinking, consulting a counselor, processing memories, and many more. No matter how you do it, always remember that you can always call on your friends and family to help you get through it.

2. Don’t blame yourself

It takes two to tango. When a relationship ends, both parties have a role to play. The blame does not solely fall on one party alone. Do not let yourself get stuck in a blame game. One of the effective tips to get over your ex is to learn what you can about what happened in your relationship and then move on.

3. Exercise your freedom

When you are single and back in the market, you have no one to tell you what to do. There is no one to tell where you are going or someone waiting for you until you get home. You are free. Exercising your new-found freedom is one of the effective tips to get over your ex. Hop on that plane with your friend and go someplace that you have never been. Stay out as late as you even if it is just hanging out with friends. Watch TV all day without hearing any complaints. Find joy in doing all the things that you are not able to do when you were still in a relationship.

4. Don’t Idealize your Ex

One of the effective tips to get over your ex is to stop idealizing your partner. Remember the bad times and the fights that you used to have. It can help you move on easier.

5. De-clutter

Remove all the memories of your ex and place them in a box. You can throw or burn them away but make sure that it is what you really want. Avoid getting your things back from your ex as well.

6. Stay Fit

Going for a workout or even just jogging in your neighborhood can be good for your hormones. Sweating out can trigger happy hormones that can prevent you from getting depressed.

7. Don’t contact your ex

This is a very important tip if you want to get over your ex. Do not attempt any contact with your ex to help you move on easily.

8. Closure

If you are going to break-up, put a period to it. Do not let loose strings of hope hang around. It is either you are done or you aren’t.

9. Pour your energy at work

Some people become lousy at their job when they are heartbroken. How about channeling the negative energy to work by working extra hard and doing a better job. This can be an effective method for many while it might not work for some. However, working hard will give you a boost in your ego and that added praise won’t hurt. Throw yourself at your job and you might just find yourself to be productive.

10. Hang out with friends

Have you been seeing less of your friends when you were in a relationship? It’s time to make it up to them. They’ll accept you back anyway. Aside from that, they are a great way to help you through your grieving process.

Top 4 Tips for Staying Positive

Staying positive even when things are looking so bleak is never easy. Happiness is a choice that you have to make. Does being sad and negative solve your problems? I don’t think so. You get wrinkles, a high blood pressure, and bad dreams. Dwelling on the negative side of things does not result to anything good. AT ALL. That is why it is better to maintain a positive attitude to get you through the bumps and hurdles that life is going to throw at you. By adopting a cheerful attitude, you can improve your quality of life and work life.

Based on studies made, if you want to live longer and have a lasting relationship, try to be optimistic. If you want to die earlier, be the pessimist. The choice is all yours. However, you might want to know that being positive can add 7 years to your life.

How do you achieve that positivity despite everything bad that is happening around you? There are times when you are at the edge of sanity because problems are pouring in like rain. Here are 4 sure ways to get you to stay positive in life.

Stress Management

For some stress is a way of life. They do not anymore notice it because it is there from the time you wake up until you sleep. However, stress can take its toll on you. Too much stress can break you down.

Stress is always there but how you manage it can do wonders in your life. Every person reacts to stress differently. Some like to read, listen to music, go out, meditate, and many more. Find a stress buster that works for you. Sometimes you just have to let it go.

Have a Reliable Support System

When you have problems, bottling them in is most oftentimes suffocating. The frustrations, disappointments, and other negative feelings must be let out. Consider confiding to close friends or your mentor. Having a strong support system can help you through rough patches in life. Make sure to choose people who will lift you up instead of add to your depression.

Find Inner Joy and Motivation

Joy and happiness is needed in staying positive. Think happy thoughts. Think about the things that make you happy. Find the thing that keeps you going.

Do something that you love so that you can continue staying positive. This can let you live a meaningful life.

Be Prepared for Just about Anything

Life can throw you lemons, sometimes it can throw you rotten eggs. We cannot predict what will happen in the next minute. The most important thing is to not let anything pull you down. If you fall down, get back up. Problems and challenges will always be present. Be ready to accept these and learn to move on.

Staying Healthy as Your New Year's Resolution

As we welcome the new year, we go about making New Year's resolutions. The best gift that you can give yourself is health because health is wealth. Staying healthy is a choice that you have to make if you want to improve your quality of life. It is not easy but you can do it as long as you set your mind to it.

Eat Healthy

Pay more attention to fruits and vegetables, health proteins, whole grains. Keep away from sugars especially those foods that contain a high amount of sugar. Also watch your caloric intake.

Exercise

Keep your body moving. There are many physical activities for you to choose from such as walking, dancing, swimming, biking, gardening, hiking, and many more.

Quit Smoking 

Stopping smoking is a challenge for many. But it is not impossible. You live a longer life and have a healthier lifestyle if you stop smoking. You also lower your risk of acquiring various diseases if you learn to give up smoking. Overall, you can save a lot of money.

Stress Management 

Exercise can be a good stress buster. On the other hand, deep breathing, yoga, and mindfulness can also help you minimize and better manage your stress.

New Year's resolutions are easily made and easily broken. But if you make this a habit, you can maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Top 3 Signs of Emotional Maturity

Emotional maturity is something that is often overlooked in looking for a partner. Sometimes, it is not even a priority because it is taken for granted. It is a common notion that when you are attracted to someone, everything else will fall into place.

If you are into short-term relationships, then emotional maturity does not really matter. if you are “just dating” and meeting up for a “good time” or dating several others, then emotional maturity is not much of a requirement.

But if you are in it for the long haul, emotional maturity should influence your decision in choosing to stay in a relationship. This is also a determining factor in sustaining a long-term relationship.

During the start of the relationship, when everything is wonderful and colorful, the level of emotional maturity is not that obvious yet. When the “honeymoon” phase of the relationship ends, that is when you see really see each other – the good and the bad. Here are some signs that your partner is emotionally mature.

Dealing with emotions

Emotionally mature people are able to keep their emotions in check before they act out. They are also responsible for their action and whatever else they say or do. Emotionally mature people are also able to deal with the emotions of others.

Those who are emotionally immature get caught up with their feelings by being dramatic. They distract themselves from the problem and at times even blame others for their problems and disappointments.

Independence

People who are emotionally mature are able to balance being independent and being dependent.

Needing someone all the time is a sign of emotional immaturity. There is a time when you have to learn to be independent for your own personal growth and you do not need someone to be complete.

There are times that you can do things as a couple while there are times that you need some time for yourself.

Self-confidence

An emotionally mature individual is someone who exudes self-confidence and optimism.

An emotionally immature person is someone who always seeks attention and constant gratification from his or her partner.

How to become emotionally mature

It is not too late. If you feel that you have yet to grow emotionally, or know someone who is still emotionally immature, here are some helpful things to do:

1. Start thinking about others and give something back to society. Do things for other people.

2. Expand your network of friends. Find people who bring out the best in you.

3. Remain honest with yourself. Know yourself and who you are.

4. Cooperate with others instead of trying to outsmart everyone all the time. It does not have to be your way all the time.

Top 6 Ways to Have a Productive Work Week

“Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.”
― Leo Babauta

How productive can you be in a week? Do you get everything done on schedule or are you almost always cramming up during the last minute? Know the culprits that counter productivity and how you can avoid them.

Act on it

One of the ways to have a productive work week is to stop planning for so many things. It is perfectly correct to plan ahead but too much planning can make you unproductive. Remember that too much of something is not good. Being behind the planning desk can make you lose more time. If you can do something now and not put it off, then do it now.

Worthwhile meetings

If you want to have a productive work week, as yourself: “Are those meetings really necessary?” Do you need to attend them or is your presence absolutely required in those meetings? There are a lot of people who spend more time attending meetings instead of working. Try to track the time that is consumed when you attend meetings. You will be surprised at how much time you are spending.

Do not be too agreeable

Do not be the “yes” man in the office. Sometimes it is better to say “no” to a request in order to get things done. If you have a schedule to follow, saying “yes” to tasks that are outside your schedule can ruin your activities that are planned for the day.

Perfection

If you are always aiming for perfection, it will take up more time for you to finish a task. By striving for perfection all the time, you are spending more time than necessary. In the end, you lose previous time which affects productivity.

Take down notes

List down the things that pop in your head. There are so many options for note-taking be it on your tablet, smartphone, or the traditional pen and paper. By listing down the things that you need to do, you can set your priorities better instead of relying on your memory. This is one of the ways to have a productive work week.

Assess your week

Before you start a new work week, examine and review the past week whether you accomplished the things that needed to be done. Celebrate your success and enjoy the weekend.

Even though you may be working on a schedule, you are still your own boss. By keeping control of your schedule and commitments and sticking to them, you can be sure that you remain productive.

Top Ways to Attract a Successful Partner

If you want to attract a successful partner into your life, you have to be the kind of partner that successful people will want to be with.

Success can make you look attractive in the love department – and you can also attract a potential partner.

If you want to attract a successful partner in life and have a lasting relationship, then you also have to be successful yourself. Nobody wants a partner who’s just sitting around and slacking all day. You will want a partner who will go places with you and achieve things in life.

Below are some qualities that make a person attractive.

1. Know what you want

You must have the drive and the ambition to strive for excellence. The most important quality in a person is his or her ambition. Get your act together, be responsible – pay your bills, be dedicated to your work, and remove too much drama in your life if you want to attract a successful partner.

Your potential partner will want a partner who is equally ambitious – in a good way. This drive to be better can improve your life. Your goals must be first. If you and your partner have dreams that you want to achieve, there is less petty quarrels between you because your time and energy is focused on reaching your goal.

2. Learn to take risks

Life is all about risking it all. There are times that you just have to let go and take the necessary risks – calculated ones. This can better yourself and it can also be an attractive quality for a potential partner.

If you do not take risks, then you will never go anywhere. You will not advance in life and in your career.

4 Useful Tricks to Help You Follow Your New Year's Resolution

Do you want to finally be able to follow your New Year's resolutions after so many years of junking them? New Year gives us a good feeling in that we can start all over again and take on a new lease on whatever we want to change. But for many or us, the resolutions from yesteryears are still the same resolutions for the new year. We tend to abandon these resolutions. 

What seems to be the problem? Apparently, self-control is one of the reasons why we cannot maintain those resolutions. What can we do to really stick to the resolutions this time around?

Psychology has 4 things that can help you finally, follow those resolutions to the T.

Form Implementation intentions 

Various studies have shown that people tend to follow and do something if they form the intention. For example, you will go to the gym when your alarm sounds.  By forming an implementation intention, you will be ready when you encounter the cue and follow through is more likely.

Focus on the abstract

Instead of physical properties of a particular thing or situation, you can divert your focus on the intangible properties. If you are tempted to eat a slice of cake, then focus on the abstract property such as the cake's healthy or not? This tends to promote more self-control.

Bundling Choices

When you bundle choices, you train yourself how to act now and on future situations. This can help you make choices that you are not going to regret. 

Self-control 

Self control is a limited resource. Save it until you need to use it and avoid temptations. 

It takes the right kind of planning to keep your resolution. It is a good decision and you will realize later on that it is worth it. 

Baby It's Cold Outside: Being Single During the Holidays

'Tis the season to be jolly.. and single!

Being single during the holidays can be quite frustrating. Relatives will be bothering you with the same questions about your love life; married family members will be telling you stories of how fulfilling it is to be a parent, and so on.

Aside from Valentine's Day, Christmas and New Year are among the times when you feel how single you are to an even greater degree.

Each holiday you spend with family and relatives is different. There comes a point when everybody is stressing over school, or sometimes the first job ever. Then by and by, you notice that everyone's life is changing - they are bringing home their partners, and later on, their kids. For someone who has been single for every holiday, save for some non-committal boyfriend, it may make you feel as though nothing in your life has changed.

Being single during the holidays can bring a complicated mix of emotions that can be sometimes hard to deal with. But remember, your life is not stagnant at all. Your life is moving forward, just maybe not the way that others or you yourself has imagined. While you had the best Euro trip earlier this year, that will not beat a relative's wedding. But that's okay.

The holidays is the time that you can make the best time for yourself.

1. Have plans

Just because you are single does not mean that you should stay at home and watch reruns of whatever shows. Reach out to friends whom you haven't seen for a while and have a dinner party or a simple get together.

2. Pamper yourself

Indulge yourself with some luxurious pampering or buy yourself those expensive clothes. Decorate your home and make it Christmasy. Who days you can't make your home look a lot like Christmas?

3. Do something for others

Volunteer your time to help others do their errands. Babysit, or bake some goodies for your friends and co-workers.

4. You are not alone 

Remember that you are not alone. You will always have your family and friends even though they have their own families.

5. Work on that New Year's resolution 

Take this time to write down what you want to accomplish for the coming year and do it.

Being Single: Top 10 Signs that Tells You’re Not the Marrying Type

1. You are contented being alone.

You feel complete despite the fact that you are single. You are married to your job or whatever it is that eats up most of your time. Some people do better by being self-absorbed. That is not a bad thing actually.

2. You are horrified by the thought of being with a single person for the rest of your life.

You simply want to enjoy life and do not want to commit to one person. You want to meet other people and at times, feel desired by many.

3. You can’t stand the thought of sharing your place with someone.

You do not welcome other people to tell you what things to buy or how to design your place.

4. You do not want someone telling you how to manage your finances.

You are very thorough with your finances and you do not want someone to question you on how you spend your money and where it goes. You also feel that you do not want to support someone else financially.

5. You cannot envision your future with children.

Some people can see themselves having lots of kids with a partner. However for you, this idea simply is not appealing. You cannot see yourself raising your own family.

6. You refuse to be responsible for the emotions of others.

You prefer to look after your own emotions and other needs. You prefer to not have any rules or schedules.

7. You look at marriage as a prison – well, sort of.

For you, getting married will destroy your physical attractiveness. For women, having babies mean that their figure will be destroyed. As for men, they will become less desirable when they are married.

8. You prefer to make decisions on your own.

You want to make your own plans and do not require the opinion of others. Compromise is not in your vocabulary.

9. Weddings do not excite you.

You tell yourself that you are lucky not to have any of those marital problems.

10. For you being single has more perks than being tied down.

Even though you see your married friends happy and contented with their life, you still enjoy the freedom of being single because single life means freedom.

Choosing to be single is not a bad thing at all. There are people who made their choice to be single just as there are those who prefer to enjoy married life.