There are so many great blog posts that I get to read during the week that I took a page out of many a bloggers’ book and decided to share a round-up of my favorite ten posts each Friday, which can either be used to make this evening’s commute go by quicker, or to accompany tomorrow morning’s cup of coffee.

Relationships

I recently contributed an essay to an upcoming anthology. My essay had to do with “faux friendships”, i.e. friends that are actually not really friends. It offered me a great opportunity to reflect on the so-called friendships I have in my life and, unfortunately, forced me to break-up with some “friends”. No wonder, then, that Valerie’s post on dealing with a friendship breakup was so useful to me.

In a similar vein, I had a conversation with a single friend recently who had just realised that her romantic relationship goals came in sharp contrast with who she actually is; she is an independent, strong woman who yearned for a real life fairy-tale, but just like Erica explains in her post where she renounces fairy-tale love, the two do not seem compatible, to say the least.

Bringing these two together is Samantha’s post on not “hexing” your ex—i.e. letting go not for their sake, but for your own. This is a post that comes in handy for those of us going through a romantic breakup or a friendship breakup, which are both very, very painful experiences.

Want to avoid any more such experiences? Kelly’s post on more effective communication in relationships and Joy’s post on holding one’s spouse to a higher standard can come in quite handy in this regard.

Personal Development

Anything can be accomplished in a spirit of learning; Hayle underlines why college students should travel and how it can broaden one’s perspective on life.

A couple of posts that caught my eye this week had to do with tips and tricks to set oneself up for success, be it through honing your evening routine as described by Angie, becoming a happier and healthier version of oneself using Rachel’s tricks and tips, or letting good enough be good enough as encouraged by Pam.

Community Development

In an environment saturated with images of women bringing each other down (although to be fair, things are starting to sloooowly change also in the media), Kiara’s post celebrating all women and encouraging them comes as a breath of fresh air.