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Single File: A New Language

Life Advice / Single File /

You don't have to be single to be shy, but it's more likely when your way of life pushes you to meet new people and make entrances ... solo. That's why it's so important to learn the language of SMALL TALK. (It merits capitals because it's not so easy to learn.) Truth is it's a totally new language for those of us who never inherited the gift of...Read more

Single File: Sexual Bill of Rights

Life Advice / Single File /

Sexual/sensual expression is important to mental and physical well-being. Let's agree on that. And being unmarried, you also know how important it is for your satisfaction to feel a partner's caring. The truth is sexual union has the potential to be spiritual communion when it joins soul mates. But it takes a bit of doing for the unmarried to ...Read more

Never married and never happier? How attitudes about marriage are changing among singles in America.

Life Advice / Single File /

More Americans are getting married later in life—if at all.

That's according to a 2023 report by the Pew Research Center, which analyzed Census Bureau data to reveal that a record-high share of Americans over 40 have never been married. One in 4 40-year-olds had never tied the knot as of 2021, up from 1 in 5 in 2010.

Forty-year-olds ...Read more

Single File: Online Dating -- Facts

Life Advice / Single File /

A reader (bless her!) has passed along practical tips for your online hunt (that's what it is, no?) for a friend/lover/life partner. And, believe me, yours truly is paying close attention -- very close indeed:

CHOOSE A DATING WEBSITE: It's a good idea to try more than one because they vary so much in the number of members in your area, as well ...Read more

Single File: The Sexual Bill of Rights

Life Advice / Single File /

Realizing that sex is an integral dimension of well-being, I will incorporate sexual fulfillment into my singleness in ways that mesh with my personal morality.

Being of adult age and with a reasonable amount of life experience, I will aim toward being both sexual and autonomous, assuming full responsibility for my decisions.

I will adopt a ...Read more

Single File: The Sincerest Remembrance

Life Advice / Single File /

DEAR SUSAN: I find myself in an unbelievable situation. My fiance died three months ago after a long battle with cancer. Six week later, his best friend's wife died after her own fight with the same kind of cancer. That friend was wonderfully supportive of me during my fiance's illness, phoning me every day and continuing to call to see how I ...Read more

Single File: Mirage for 2

Life Advice / Single File /

DEAR SUSAN: I've been writing to a man on an online dating service for four months. We're both single, and he seems to know I'm hung up on him. But now he says he doesn't want to write to me as often as before. He says writing to me isn't fun anymore! What can I do to let him know how much I care for him? -- Clara

DEAR CLARA: Four months does ...Read more

Single File: Why Not Marry?

Life Advice / Single File /

DEAR SUSAN: My mother and I have talked over the same question you asked today. And here's what I've come up with:

No. 1: MARRIAGE IS HARD TO GET OUT OF. I grew up thinking my father paid so little attention to my mother she might as well be single. And yet she was stuck -- unhappy, neglected, unwilling to divorce on moral grounds, maybe even ...Read more

Single File: True and (Sometimes) False

Life Advice / Single File /

DEAR SUSAN: Your "true or false" quiz really has me thinking!

You ask us to respond to the statement "Men and women cannot be friends; they're too dissimilar." I find that to be both true and false. Men I've already had a relationship with can continue our friendship but at arm's length. The emotional closeness I feel with female friends simply...Read more

Single File: Tipster

Life Advice / Single File /

When was the last time you took a trip? A genuine, out-of-neighborhood venture, not a trip to the local amusement park sort of thing. Well, dear heart, I'm here to encourage you to start planning a major motion. And the first step is going to a travel agency to look through its travel brochures. The conversation between the two of you will lead ...Read more

Single File: Reentry (Part 2)

Life Advice / Single File /

Around the same time the newly singled realize their bed-hopping adventures actually make them lonelier, a growing awareness of themselves as a distinct entity takes hold. Standing on one's own, recognized as a person in one's own right, starts to feel good. Really good. The loneliness is still there, of course, felt most in the early-morning ...Read more

Single File: Reentry (Part 1)

Life Advice / Single File /

Coming back to home base is never easy. Astronauts are well aware of the complexity of returning to Earth's atmosphere. Immigrants resettling in the homeland must face the challenge of unlearning new ways while relearning the ones from childhood. And (deep, deep sigh) singletons are faced with the momentous challenge of rejoining peers after a ...Read more

Single File: Letting Go

Life Advice / Single File /

The ongoing battle to hold on to our hard-earned personhood while in a love relationship demands self-confidence and self-awareness. But what about encouraging your beloved to also be an individual? What about having the maturity (hate the word) and wisdom (a much better one) to grant them -- nay, encourage them -- to own breathing space to be ...Read more

Single File: Ticklish Questions

Life Advice / Single File /

Parenting is a privilege. Being the main influence in the lives of your children is an honor and a blessing. And at times, a royal pain in the neck!

But single parenting has to be -- hands down -- the most complex, demanding situation in all of the single world. It's exhausting, complicated, seemingly never-ending, emotionally draining -- and ...Read more

 

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