YOLO.
‘Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.’ — Omar Khayyam.
Have you ever heard or read the above quote before?
The first time I was exposed to this quote was in the 2002 movie, ‘Unfaithful.’ The movie depicted a housewife gone mad for a younger man who seduces her away from her husband and young son until she becomes completely obsessed with him at the expense of all else.
I loved this movie for its stunningly uninhibited portrayal of a woman torn between her loyal and handsome husband and her much younger, sexually adventurous lover.
In the…
Some things just can’t be known.
In every relationship, there may be things we keep from our partners — whether it’s intentional or unintentional.
I believe this to not only be normal — but also to be an intriguing element of human nature.
To claim that your partner knows absolutely everything about you from head to toe or from your past before them would be quite a bold statement.
Although many of us pride ourselves on being honest, loyal, and true to our partners — it’s not realistic for a person to say they know all there is to know about their partner.
There are bound…
It was as simple as that.
Long-term relationships and marriages can feel like a never-ending maze full of quandaries, successes, and setbacks all at the same time. Just when you think you’ve conquered one relationship hurdle — another one pops up.
My husband and I have been wading through this long and redundant battle of never having enough time or energy to really focus our attention on one another because we barely even get enough time to ourselves.
I’ve written about the struggles and the resolutions. I’ve expressed my frustrations over our challenges and my hopes for the future of our partnership.
Recently, we hit a…
‘You don’t have to do anything — just lie there.’
It all started with an argument about the man I was dating.
My close friend — who had been one of my best friends during some of the most formative years of my life — was angry with me. Her hazel eyes were blazing with fury and her black hair was sticking to her wet cheeks from crying.
She had always been opinionated over the men that I chose to date and it was no secret to those who knew her that she herself was only into dating women.
She was several years older than me and had taken me…
Sometimes you have to hit the wall — maybe even several times.
Real love in a romantic relationship doesn’t always feel the way in which we expected or imagined it to. Our ideas of what real love should be like and feel like can be blinded by lust, excitement, or unrealistic expectations.
Genuine love means experiencing a feeling of warmth with another person — a person who shows you kindness, respect, and compassion.
Quite often, when we experience love in a way that feels ugly, cold, or just plain wrong, it then leads us to a greater understanding of what true, sincere love really is.
Here are 5 of my own life-changing…
There’s no need to bully single people about why they’re not in a relationship.
I completely lost my shit on my best friend once for telling me that I need to ‘settle down’ and find a partner.
Are you kidding me?
I was furious with her at that uncomfortable moment between us.
I had been single for quite some time. My best friend was married and I had pretty much given up on dating completely.
I didn’t blame my options in men for not dating — I blamed myself. I blamed my own choices.
I had made a pact with myself that until I was capable of making better choices in men, I would…
I’ve been doing this for a long time.
I’ve written before about the subject of female masturbation and how I feel that it’s not as widely accepted or discussed as the subject of male masturbation is — unless of course, it’s displayed in pornography as a vehicle to turn on a man.
I masturbate whenever I feel the urge to do so — just like many men do. It helps with my stress and frustration levels. It calms me down. It centers me.
No one ever talked to me about masturbation growing up. I just did it. …
What are your thoughts really trying to tell you?
I recently watched the popular series, ‘Sex/Life’ on Netflix. Actually — I binged it. It was pretty juicy stuff albeit not very realistic. However, I did watch the entire series in one weekend which IS saying something.
The series centers around a sex-neglected housewife in upper-class suburbia married to the seemingly perfect man with whom she has two kids — however — she simply cannot stop obsessing about her ex-boyfriend and all the mind-shattering sex they used to have together.
There’s a lot more that happens in the series that I won’t get into or spoil, but this idea of…
“My spite was sharp as broken glass” ― Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
I have been in three different relationships with men in my life who were abusive — mentally, physically, and emotionally.
At some point, I loved each one of them. And at some point, I came to my senses and never got involved with this kind of man again.
What I realize now, looking back, is that all three of these men — one of which I married — had one major thing in common.
Each of these men harbored jealousy towards me.
And I don’t mean jealousy as in jealous of me being with other men — although that was…
And you thought you were the only one.
I’d be lying if I said that I’m always completely in the moment with my partner every time we have sex.
Do most people only think about the partner they’re with during sex every single time? Perhaps are they thinking about something — or someone else?
After all, throughout any given day we as people are constantly inundated with the temptation of distraction and the ongoing stress of daily responsibilities.
Did I turn on the dishwasher? Did that email I’ve been waiting for come through? Can the kids hear us? I hope this doesn’t take too long because I have…
Michelle Brown
Creator & Editor of Heart Affairs, Self, Inspired, I, Mother & I, Stepmother. You can support my writing & my publications at https://ko-fi.com/michellebrown
