It’s the year 2022 and the other woman is still the main focus when we speak about affairs.

Hatred, aggression, disdain and slut-shaming abound when it comes to women who are involved with men “who are spoken for”. But why? Why are we throwing stones at the woman the cheater was with and not at the man who cheated?

This past weekend we were at our second bar of the night for a mutual friend’s birthday party. As usual, my friends decided to ditch me to chat up some foreign guys on the balcony.

So I ended speaking to some random girl at the bar who had apparently been gulping cocktails since 2pm.

The conversation was like sitting through Suicide Squad – tough and seemingly never-ending! I learnt that she was 21 and had a 1 year-old daughter.

And since it’s apparently not polite to not want to see pictures of someone’s bundle of joy, I sat through scroll after scroll of snaps trying not to seem annoyed.

Then I noticed the little baba had some familiar features. Mmm, I thought…

I asked about the baby daddy. She giggled and pointed to a guy I had been cozy with several times.

“If I had slept with him I would have wrecked a home and I would be the whore that would make girls hold onto their men just a tad tighter.”
Well, I sobered up quicker than the time my parents decided to fetch me early from an underage party and my inner Joseph Pistone surfaced. I tried my best to continue the conversation strategically in order to get the correct timeline.

Turns out the bubbly woman was not just a girl throwing herself at the guy I was seeing on and off. She was the baby mama to a child I didn’t know he had – and, yes it gets juicier – they freaking LIVE together!

That shady piece of chewed up gum never mentioned his white picket fence setup.

If I had slept with him I could have wrecked a home. I would have been the whore that made other girls hold onto their men just a tad tighter.

I was furious. But my anger was not just at him, but also towards my girls who knew about this and still tried to set us up!

So I’ll ask again: who is the home-wrecker?

” It’s one thing to peruse an involved man, but it’s another if his 21-year-old baby mama is not on his lips when he’s putting on the charm. “
I’ve been an accidental home-wrecker before. Men assumed I was okay being a weekend special because of the way I looked, talked and flirted. It’s all fun and games, but when shit hits the infidelity fan I suddenly became the bad guy that seduced Mr Innocent who neglected to mention his relationship status.

There is even a website dedicated to shaming women who decided to be freaks with committed men. The website contains names, surnames, addresses; basically all the information needed to apply for an ID; all in the name of exposing said home-wrecker.

Where is the website that shames the men who know exactly what they’re doing when they lie about their status and seek out unsuspecting victims to cheat on with their partners?

Receiving love from others should be an automatic process right? Well, not quite.

There are in fact many people who struggle with receiving love, for different reasons, even when they are great at giving.

This is a problem because it can cause deep emotional issues and attract the wrong kind of people into your life.

If you’re one of those people who had the realization that they actually don’t know how to accept love without feeling guilty or unworthy, you need to seek professional help.

As you look into it, below are some tips on how you can let your guard down more and receive love from others.

1. Find the root cause

For us to have a stable life, we often need to do some introspection. This should be your self-care time where you assess who you are, where you’re at in life and some of the things that you might need to change.

With this specific issue, you need to investigate why you find it do hard to receive love. The source might be rejection, the fear of getting too attached then losing someone or even childhood trauma.

You need to identify what your specific root cause is and recognize how it has affected your life so you can heal.

2. Leave the past behind

After you take some time to identify some of that baggage you’ve carried for so long, you need to make a decision to leave them behind and move forward with your life. You have to recognize that you don’t have to allow your past to control your future and that is a decision only you can make.

This process is hard and very painful but, once you make that decision that you won’t give your past power over you, you will gradually break free.

3. Seek therapy

Besides making that personal decision to move on, you also need see a therapist. A therapist will help to identify some root causes you didn’t know about and most importantly, offer a solution.

Some people are able to work through it through self-therapy but, it would be a much better idea to work with a professional who can see things from a different perspective.

4. Recognize your self-sabotaging patterns

People who aren’t whole emotionally often don’t know that they’re setting themselves up for failure through self-sabotage.

Self-sabotaging, when you don’t know how to receive love, can come in the form of infidelity when you’re in a perfectly healthy relationship and many other problematic coping mechanisms.

There are many ways you might be rejecting love without even realizing it and you need to be aware of those patterns so you can learn how to change that.

5. Accept that you are worthy of love

As you do the work to identify the root causes and seek therapy, you need to remind yourself every day that you are worthy of love.

You have to fight through those lies that you’ve told yourself for so long for you to break free. Your loved ones genuinely care for you and when they say they love you, learn to accept that truth because they truly love you.

Social media sites have become a hub for experiments and when it comes to food, TikTok pulled some of the best ones.

In fact, if reports are to be believed, then #foodtiktok pulled in 106.6 billion views in 2022.

These food trends not only help make some creative dishes but also promote fun in the kitchen as many people are scared of entering this area of the home.

So, if you are looking for some easy ways to spice up your meals, try these food trends that were popularized this year. They are super simple and can help in making some really creative and tasty dishes. Take a look.

1. Cloud Bread
The number one food trend on TikTok is making Cloud Bread which can be made with just 3 ingredients. With about 3.4 billion views, TikTokers literally baked Cloud Bread throughout the year. The popularity of this dish relies on the fact that it’s super easy to make and is low-carb, gluten-free and an excellent option for those on a Keto diet. One of the most popular recipes of Cloud Bread includes cream cheese, eggs and cream of tartar.

2. Baked Oats
Looking more like a dessert than a simple breakfast, this food trend popularised the concept of eating oats in the morning. This dish got about 1.3 billion views on the video-sharing platform. Using this trend, people made several recipes using this viral food trend. One of the most viewed Baked Oats videos is from Quaker Canada, which shared the recipe for Apple Crumble Baked Oats that has received more than 3.7 million views.

3. Charcuterie Boards
Rounding off the top three is Charcuterie Boards which has got about a whopping 1.6 billion views. The history of this board dates back to the 15th century when the French people used to sell products made of pork meat that included its internal organs as well. With about 1.2 billion views, this food trend has caught TikToker’s attention who are creating their Charcuterie board for home parties. This board is an assortment of meat placed alongside different varieties of cheese, pickles and crackers. Though this food trend was popularised in the year 2020, there is still a craze among people about this board.

4. Birria Tacos
If you are someone who loves to gorge on Tacos, then here’s some good news for you as this trend of Birria Tacos got about 922.2 million views. It got popularised during the pandemic when everyone craved comfort food and thus came this dish called Birria Tacos which was prepared with Tacos loaded with lots of cheese, onion, cilantro and meat. These Tacos are best enjoyed with a broth called consomme and thus the dippable Tacos.

5. Mug Cake
The next name in this list is Mug Cake, which was viewed by 1 billion people on TikTok. This dish was popularised as many people craved something sweet that could be easily baked and ta-da, there it was. It’s a very old concept, and TikTokers took it to another level and made some really delicious cakes. It was the Oreo Mug Cake recipe made with just 3 ingredients that took the internet by storm and required only milk, baking powder and Oreo cookies.

6. Pasta Chips
This food trend is based on the concept of air fryers, which help make the whole junk food experience into a healthy one. This food trend gave way to a whole new idea of consuming pasta in a different way. This trend was popularised with the Pasta Chips recipe video shared by blogger Yumna Jawad, who got about 23.4 million views on her video recipe. Now, there have been over 1.6 billion views on this food trend since the first one was shared. This delicious trend makes pasta shapes crisp and crunchy, with many users adding seasoning twists to their dishes – from chilli to cream cheese dip.

7. Butter Boards
Giving tough competition to Cheese Boards, this viral TikTok food trend took over social media by storm. Popularised by Tik Tok blogger Justine Doiron, Butter Boards are inspired by the French charcuterie boards. These Butter Boards include a wooden board smeared with lots of butter. On this butter, one can add their choice of seasonings, and herbs along with fruits and veggies. People enjoy these butter boards during a large audience with different choices of bread. Apparently, the Butter Boards food trend garnered about 358.4 million views on TikTok.