Deciding whether you should stay or go, can be one of the hardest decisions you will ever make.

A few months ago I came across some research that speaks to the dilemma of deciding  whether to stay or go. Researchers at the University of Utah, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Toronto, had found the top 50 reasons why couples stay together or split up. They narrowed it down to a list of 27 reasons when people would stay in a relationship and 23 reasons why they would leave. Samantha Joel, the lead author of the study and her colleages were surprised at how many mixed feelings couples had about their relationships. 

Understandably, many people find it helpful to hear about how I survived the year that followed my broken engagement in 2011. I totally get it. You want to know that you're not alone. As someone who has been through more heart break than I'd care to admit, I have some good news. Not only can you survive this heart break, but you rest assured, that if you take care of yourself, and work through this experience, you can emerge happier person and find a more fulfilling relationship than the one you're currently missing.

We talked to a breakup coach about exit plans, dealing with breakups on social media, and whether it’s better to be the dumper or the dumpee.

Breaking up with someone, if you have any semblance of a soul, is not a pleasant experience. How do you do it? Do you really need to meet in a public place and look them in the eye when you break their heart? How honest do you need to be for them to get the idea that you never, ever want to sleep with them again? It's questions like these that making ghosting so tempting. But you don't need to go through this experience alone, you can take your problems to a professional.

Dating after a divorce can be both intimidating, and an exciting new opportunity. Depending on how long you were in a committed partnership, it may be years since you were last single. You are now older, have a lot more responsibilities than you did in your early 20s, and may have children. That said, there are a lot of positive things about “mature” dating. There are numerous reasons for divorce, but one of the most common is that partners have grown apart, with either one or both partners expressing changes in their values and/or direction in life.  And so, as hard as it is to have a relationship end (even when it’s for good reasons) having the opportunity to date to find a new partner who may be a much better match can be a wonderful thing. Add to this, that most older women would say they know themselves better, have developed better relationship skills, and are more established in their careers.