Blog Posts by BounceBack

How Young is Too Young to be Married?

My sister, Kate, is a twenty-one year old married woman. Twenty-one? Married? You may be surprised by her relationship status in comparison to her age, but I have to argue that she was not too young to get married, and young couples are not doomed to fail.

Today, my parents loaded up a U-Haul truck and helped Kate move down to Maryland with her husband. The couple got married about a week and a half ago, and is now moving in together. I will admit, that I too, being only twelve months younger than my sister, was a bit in shock, and wondered if this was the right move. All my friends were surprised when I told them about the somewhat spur of the moment marriage. Even Kate told me that she received barely any congratulations, and that most people she told, friends, coworkers, even family, questioned her move.

So, you may ask, why did she rush into her marriage? Well, I now understand that she totally didn't. Brian, her

The Casualties of Casual Sex

Casual sex: it's not our grandmothers' kind of intimacy, and perhaps with good reason. Whatever our age or level of sexual experience, there is an inevitable sense of disappointment or "emptiness" that always factors in to this sort of romantic entanglement. I'm not trying to put down the female gender, to paint us as naively romantic and benignly optimistic, pining by the un-ringing phone for days: I'm simply referring to blatant logic.

Related: The "Bed" Friend

Our bodies function, from personal experience and from what we have witnessed or learned throughout our budding sex lives, by the idea that physical intimacy is closely associated with emotional intimacy. And what is more physically intimate than sex? This leads me to that quizzical and semi-problematic phrase of "casual sex," and why if we choose to take part in it, we will always have that feeling, however minor or fleeting, that something is missing.

After a Breakup, Follow These Steps to Heal Your Heart


Posted by Sujeiry Gonzalez for BounceBack.com

They say letting go is easier said than done. And that's because it is. Anyone can preach about warning signs and giant red flags. How we must walk away if a man stops calling or withdraws emotionally or even cheats. How releasing an unhealthy relationship will strengthen our self-esteem and our self-worth. But rarely do we learn tools for letting go and bouncing back. That is, until today.

Here are 5 ways bounce back after a breakup. None which include slashing tires or substituting affections with another.

1. Gratitude: One way to let go is to be grateful for it all. Instead of dwelling on the mistakes and disappointments, look at the lessons learned. If you loved someone and they broke your heart, at least you felt love. Some people never feel love. If the love was never reciprocated at least you know you can give love. Some people never give love. They are too afraid. No matter what your experience, walk out

The Number 1 Reason Couples Rarely Stay Together

Posted by Maggie McGee for BounceBack.com

No matter how attracted you are to someone, how perfect you may think he or she is, or how in love you may think you two are, when core values clash, relationships are evidently doomed. By core values, I mean the inner foundation on which we perform daily and view life. Core values can include work ethic, family values, opinions on politics and religion, and ultimately how you think life should be lived.

Related: Are Your Relationships Keeping You From Being Your Best Self?

When couples first start dating, they may overlook these differences, but once a relationship becomes long-term and the couple falls out of that honeymooner stage, these differences can become disastrous.

An example of this clash comes directly from my experience with heartbreak. I was in love. I dated someone for two years, and loved being with him. I pictured us married with kids one day. But I was going into my senior year at college

Sometimes It's Better to be Dumped than to be the Dumper

Posted by James Lane for BounceBack.com

No one likes breaking up. I think that is a pretty fair statement. But usually, the person getting broken up with, also known as the dumped, like it a whole lot less. Sometimes they see it coming a mile away, but other times they are completely blind sighted when their loving partner sits them down and wants to have…"The Talk".

"The Talk", as everyone knows, is the end of every relationship. The breaker upper already has it in their minds that this is it. They will say their peace and nothing you can say or do will change their minds.

The person who does the dumping is usually looked at as the bad guy. They are the ones who are ending the relationship. All of the power and control is in their hands. And sometimes, maybe because of pride, the dumper does not want to be seen as the bad guy. So this is what they do.

They will do anything in their power to make the other person break up with them, by either acting

Who do YOU Turn to For Comfort?

Posted by Madeleine Harrington for BounceBack.com

I'd like to address the stage in a break up before the rebounding, the very initial emotions, the time somewhere between denial and potential temporary insanity. I'm talking about when you are at your most vulnerable, when the notion of moving on is a hardly formed blip on the horizon, and you will do practically anything in your power for a small piece of comfort.

Related: When Everyone on Facebook is Happier than You

I speak from personal experience, but I think that this segment of life, of breaking up, is universal, the sense of momentarily losing one's self, where grief knocks down intuition and sets a place for self destruction. This is the time, might I add, when we are capable of making an impressive number of mistakes. We yearn for comfort, for someone to understand us, so much so that we would jump into the embrace of the doorman, if he happened to be the first person who showed any hint of

Get Your Aggression Out!

Posted by Kelli Cooper for BounceBack.com

I do not think anyone is immune from having bad moods. I know I have had my fair share! Some of these moods are more intense than others. You may feel like punching someone or something. It can be pretty intense. You may want to slap people around simply because they are in a good mood. Everything and everyone around you irritates you to no end.

Days like these are no picnic, that is for sure. But they present us with a great learning opportunity. I would like to offer some advice on how I handle these days and hopefully it will help you navigate them a little better.

Know This Too Shall Pass

On an intellectual level, we know that no mood lasts forever, that our feelings are in constant flux. But in the thick of these bad moments, we often lose sight of this. We are consumed by the feelings and in that moment, on some level, we think we are going to feel like this forever. We will not of course.

Related:

Make Up Sex Without Making Up

Posted by Jesse De La Hoz for BounceBack.com

Relationships are hard. Breakups can be even harder, but are you setting yourself up for heartache if you continue to have sex with the person your ending it with? Recently a friend going through a divorce told me she had sex with her ex. She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do but she was not upset about it.

I've seen enough of Dr. Phill to know that having sex with an ex when you still want to end the relationship probably isn't a good idea. But as my friend mentioned to me when I interviewed her for this story, she lives in the real world. A discussion of a few pros and cons can assist someone in realizing what takes priority to them to make the right decision.

Pro: Familiar sex

There is a familiarity when having sex with your ex. It is hard to start fresh with someone new so it's not hard to imagine why one would go back. My friend agrees, and is the reason she had done it before. "It's not easy