As women of the world, we don’t need to be told that being a girl isn’t always easy! However, it is important not to let all the drama get on top of you.

Make like a wise woman and listen up because the key to all that life-changing-happiness is actually quite simple, it comes down to you. Life is far too short to worry about things that don’t warrant the stress - we’re not on The Hills here - so learn to let go, learn to love you and learn to look after yourself with these little tips and tricks.

1. Respect yourself. Aside from your parents, there is possibly no-one else who will protect and cherish you as much as you would yourself. In order to do this you will need to find out what respect means and the definition of disrespect. Once you know the difference between the two you will be able to look after yourself better and make better decisions. This one translates into every area of your life. Whether it’s your health, relationships or career, it may sound a little mantra, but once you respect yourself everybody else will too.

2. Food is fuel. You need to eat in order to stay alive. Skipping meals will not make you skinny, it will make you sick. All this talk of not eating in front of boyfriends is ridiculous. Men are simple beings and your non-eating will not impress him, it will scare him.

3. Fat days are inevitable. Two main causes, bloating is one and weight gain from bad food choices is the other. Whichever cause has attacked you on whatever particular day, know that there is absolutely nothing in the world you can do about it at that point in time - getting upset while furiously trying to squeeze into your skinny jeans isn’t going to get you anywhere. Instead, grab some of your more comfy-and-yet-flattering ‘fat clothes’ (we all have them), accept your size for the day and feel better about yourself. Drinking water and having a healthy attitude to your food choices for the day will make you feel healthier too.

4. Chocolate possesses a high fat count. Even the light stuff, aside from tasting terrible, is not good for you. While we understand the therapeutic qualities of chocolate – and if you need it just have the real thing - make sure you watch your intake so you don’t have it every day. Over consumption of large amounts of chocolate will only bring on more of those fat days.

5. Tears are not unlimited. So save them for things that matter like scraped knees and elbows when you fall off your bike. Ever wonder how those cranky men and women got the way they are? It’s because they ran out of tears. Don’t end up like them and cry over things that don’t matter like fat days and spilt milk etc.

6. Alcohol is good. It tastes nice, helps us relax and generally speaking helps us have a good time when we go out. Drinking alcohol at every opportunity every day of the week is not good. This signifies you have a drinking problem or an addiction. While processing alcohol after the occasional big night is fine, do your body a favour and lay off the binge drinking. Sooner or later, it will show you how much it hates you for it.

7. Smoking cigarettes can kill you. Having said that, so can a car accident, drinking too much, exercising too much, not exercising enough, walking down the street and a million other things. If you smoke and you enjoy it, keep it up. If you want to have white teeth, a nice sounding voice, smell good and shock-horror, a good quality of life, then quit.

8. Having a man to play with is good. Having a man who plays around on you is not good. Despite the supposed man-drought, if your man is doing the dirty then get rid of him. It will hurt and you can use up some tears on him, but not many - you know he’s not really worth them.

9. There is nothing wrong with being single. There’s a lot of appeal in being able to do what you want, when you want. If you have recently become single, don’t rush into another relationship straight away - take some time out to new learn things and meet new people. Surround yourself with things that will help retrieve your identity because, as it is in our nature to please and impress our boys, we often give up our own values and hobbies to support them. Taking enough time out to learn something new and get truly passionate about it will make it a lot harder to give up when a new boy rolls around.

10. Relationships take a long time to develop. If you have been dating someone for three months, try to resist the urge to call him ‘your partner’. He isn’t really your partner and by doing this, you are only rushing through the really exciting stage of your life that is dating. Using committal terms like ‘partner’ or ‘my other half’ may increase your feelings of security but it isn’t really necessary until you own joint assets, property or have joint back accounts together. Try to keep your individuality for as long as you can.

Lou