"There is blood, and heartbreak, and pain; and also blood, and joy, and life. If we can’t look at the blood, and read the words, and know the stories, how can we ever hope for laws that honor the women who experience it all?"
2. Down for learning how to communicate better. Here, too.
3. Dealing with Death as an Atheist. Another great discussion here. And this one might be my favorite of all three.
4. You Can Be Happy Regardless of Your Relationship Status.
5. Also, What it Means to Really Take Care of Yourself.
6. Love is Not Enough.
"You can fall in love with a wide variety of people throughout the course of your life. You can fall in love with people who are good for you and people who are bad for you. You can fall in love in healthy ways and unhealthy ways. You can fall in love when you’re young and when you’re old. Love is not unique. Love is not special. Love is not scarce. But your self-respect is. So is your dignity. So is your ability to trust. There can potentially be many loves throughout your life, but once you lose your self-respect, your dignity or your ability to trust, they are very hard to get back. Love is a wonderful experience. It’s one of the greatest experiences life has to offer. And it is something everyone should aspire to feel and enjoy. But like any other experience, it can be healthy or unhealthy. Like any other experience, it cannot be allowed to define us, our identities or our life purpose. We cannot let it consume us. We cannot sacrifice our identities and self-worth to it. Because the moment we do that, we lose love and we lose ourselves. Because you need more in life than love. Love is great. Love is necessary. Love is beautiful. But love is not enough."
7. Guide to Strong Boundaries.
"A person with strong boundaries understands that it’s unreasonable to expect two people to accommodate each other 100% and fulfill every need the other has. A person with strong boundaries understands that they may hurt someone’s feelings sometimes, but ultimately they can’t determine how other people feel. A person with strong boundaries understands that a healthy relationship is not controlling one another’s emotions, but rather each partner supporting each other in their growth and path to self-actualization."
8. Why Some Breakups Are More Painful Than Others ...and how to protect yourself better the next time around.
9. Hope After Heartbreak (and loss of any kind).
10. "You become more active in saying, "you know what, I don't want to do that. this doesn't feel right for me. or, I want to take the day for myself today." This allows you to create space for things that you really do want. When you leave that relationship that's not working, or that job that you hate, you create space for something in your life that really feels good. (And nothing is going to feel amazing all the time, but it's very important to create space in our lives for something that really works. And the only way that we're going to do that is by actively saying no to the stuff we're not interested in and actively saying yes to the things we are.) Stop doing things that are based out of fear and start doing things that are based out of love."
^ I'm not sure where this quote is from, but it's important nonetheless.
