I provided some of my own thoughts on the best of single life in my previous post. That became immediately popular both here and at Stumble Upon.

This first set of thoughts is from Eleanore Wells, who blogs as Spinsterlicioius at The Spinsterlicious Life. Eleanore is also President of Golden Door Consulting, a consumer research and strategy company; a good friend; occasional cook; restaurant frequent-er, New Yorker, world traveler, and spinster.

• When a married woman asks me why I'm not married, I often wonder if she's quietly pondering why she is. 
• Married or Single?  Neither is better, they're just different.  Everybody needs to lighten up.
• Being single without children is not the societal norm - yet- but there's an awful lot that's really good about being single, free, and unencumbered...and it really suits me.

Alan, a long-time reader of these blogs and a frequent contributor to our discussions both here and at All Things Single (and More), offers this:

• Being single gets easier as you get older. When I was in my 20s I worried about getting married and would go into spasms of dating. Now that I'm approaching 40 I'm much more comfortable with being single, and more confident in my decision.

Rachel is another name that will be familiar to many readers of enlightened singles blogs. She writes the Singles by Choice blog, and shares this:

• If you feel miserable, wishing you had a partner, see if you are telling yourself something like "I am worthless without a partner!" That is internalized singlism! Your worth as a human being has nothing to do with your coupling status. However, the cultural messages we are bombarded with almost every minute suggest that we are a lesser person simply by being single. There must be something wrong with us - is another message we pick up relentlessly. Because these messages are all around us, we tend to internalize them. Instead of understanding how unsupportive it is to suggest that our worth is tied to whether we're in a couple or not (or how large our bank account balance is or our car or...), we blame ourselves and end up feeling miserable. You can celebrate your worth by taking a few deep breaths and relishing in being alive.

A psychologist from Dublin, Ireland has asked me not to use her name. She contributes these gems:

• I am 100% complete without a partner.
• In living alone I get to live with the love of my life.
• Matrimania is alive and well in Ireland but I for one don't buy it!
• I really don't want to go to another wedding and celebrate something I don't believe in.
• The next time a married person asks me why I am not married I am going to ask them why they are not single.
• I don't like being asked whether I am single or in a couple, it isn't relevant to who I am although the world seems to believe it is!
• When I say I never want to be married, most people don't believe me. I'd like to say it again: I NEVER want to be married.
• Friendships are hugely undervalued in a society that values romantic relationships above all else. This is plainly wrong and unhealthy.

I think that's everyone -- thanks for your thoughts and your wisdom! If you sent me something and it does not appear here, send it again and I'll post it immediately.

Sorry it took me longer than I expected to get to this. I have a good excuse, though: I've been working with the web designer to get the new singles site, aggregating feeds from lots of enlightened singles bloggers, up and running.

Finally, in case you are not a regular reader of All Things Single (and More), you may be interested in the latest guest post there. Many readers appreciated Leslie Jones' observations about being single, then married, then single again.

[UPDATE: Also relevant to the theme of this post and the last one is What's the Best Thing About Being Single, especially the comments section.]