In 1960, 84 percent of all 25- to 29-year-olds were married. By 2010, that number was just 42 percent. This 50-percent drop in marriage rates among young people over the past 50 years means a lot of things: women are postponing traditional life milestones like marriage and childbirth in favor of pursuing educations, careers, and financial independence. As a result, the multifaceted lives of women today look a lot different than the lives their mothers and grandmothers led at their age. Becky Paroubek is a Wisconsin mother of two. Her daughter Lilly, 27, is a Crossfit coach and business owner living in Colorado. Her daughter Cat, 30, is the owner…

I’ve never been someone who likes to commit to anything too far in advance. In high school I had a boyfriend who always wanted to make plans for the following weekend during the weekend we happened to be enjoying at the moment. I didn’t like feeling pinned down. What if something awesome came up that I just didn’t know about yet? What if I didn’t feel like it next week? What if I changed my mind? His attempts to schedule my time felt like attempts to control it. Needless to say, the relationship didn’t last. In college, I chose my major by selecting the option that came with the smallest…

This story originally appeared on: A Daughter’s Love My feelings were crushed the night my father died.  My entire world exploded when my father died. As I silently observed my father take his last breath, I felt my heart beat hard inside my chest, exactly six times before I burst into uncontrollable tears.  And then suddenly my sobbing stopped and so did my entire world. My father’s death was expected after a very long illness.  But that still did not prepare me for the gut wrenching, debilitating pain of grief.  The days leading up to his death were mentally exhausting. Two days before my father died I sat next to…

More women are choosing to be single Aliza Burton, Michele Sonier, Robin Hait If you’re not married, you’re definitely not alone. The latest United States Census revealed that for the first time in the history of ever, unmarried women outnumber their married counterparts. If you haven’t noticed it before, perhaps now you will, just as I did at a recent dinner party in New York City. Although I was invited by a female friend, I assumed that most everyone else would be there as couples. As it turned out, the vast majority of attendees were women who’d either come solo or with a friend, as I had. I quickly sussed…

The more you move forward, the more life becomes clearer. Sometimes it takes a bumpy ride in life to find your inner light. June 29, 2017 by Jessica Doyle Leave a Comment — “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”  –Kurt Vonnegut Jr. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”  –Paulo Coelho It’s common to have new ideas pop up here and there. We are wired to have new ideas occur. When you’re feeling inspired, or you’re on an…

— Emotions are a funny, fickle thing. Evolution has gifted us with the ability to connect in a meaningful way to the world around us. We are more than just cogs in a giant ecological system. We interact with and change it. How amazing is that? They can also be a curse. Some of us spend our lives running from them, building walls and massive labyrinths that those who want to know us must navigate and scale. And when they get close, when they get within our perceived danger zone, we change the rules. The walls higher, the guardians more monstrous, and the traps more perilous. Sometimes, despite our safeguards…

George Sand, the French novelist said “There is only one happiness in life—to love and be loved.” For people, like Sand, who are open to love…it is a blessing like no other. Does anyone NOT want love? It is difficult to imagine that. But there are those who claim to want love—and who surely do—but whose actions and non-verbal messages convey something very different. The result can be very sad—a loveless life and a feeling of “missing the boat.” Being open to love is mostly about what is inside. It is hard to expect and anticipate love from others if we can’t or don’t love ourselves. But sometimes we convey…

More women are choosing to be single Aliza Burton, Michele Sonier, Robin Hait If you’re not married, you’re definitely not alone. The latest United States Census revealed that for the first time in the history of ever, unmarried women outnumber their married counterparts. If you haven’t noticed it before, perhaps now you will, just as I did at a recent dinner party in New York City. Although I was invited by a female friend, I assumed that most everyone else would be there as couples. As it turned out, the vast majority of attendees were women who’d either come solo or with a friend, as I had. I quickly sussed…

— Mandy Len Catron (who wrote one of the most-shared articles in The New York Times’ Modern Love section, To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This) is back with another must-read: To Stay in Love, Sign on the Dotted Line. I love it. Before I slather on the praise I want to make one observation: A lot of people like to say that love should be effortless and shouldn’t take work. Yeah, those people are probably single. Love, in all its manifestations, takes effort and work. And, the closer you are and the more you depend on each other the more effort you put in. Sometimes you don’t want to rub your mom’s…