If there's one thing I've learned since becoming a mom, it's that I really need the support of other moms to help me make it through the day. But with my closest friends living far away, I admit that I've had a hard time. 

I find that either I like the mom but can't stand her kids, or my kids get along with her kids but she isn't really "my type," so I just grin and bear it for the sake of my children when I absolutely have to.

Too bad I didn't work harder at maintaining some of my own friendships and making new friends along the way.

After your marriage ends, whether you and your spouse were together for a few years or for many, it can be hard to regain your independence. You shared everything with your partner. Your hopes, your dreams, your bed ... and yes, your bank account.

When I got divorced, getting used to being the only adult in a household of three wasn’t that easy for me. I had relied on my ex-husband for a lot, whether it was dropping the kids off at school in the morning or running out to the bank to get money for the Tooth Fairy or bringing home a paycheck.

But I very quickly learned a few things that were really beneficial to me in the months after my divorce. Like asking for help doesn't mean you're helpless. And feeling strong physically can really help with your emotional well-being.

Here are 8 simple tips to help you stand on your own after a divorce:

Today, my new neighbor came by looking for my hubby.

"He's sleeping," I told him.

"Oh, well. Would you mind sending him by when he wakes up? I just had a quick question," he said as he walked off.

"Do you need to know how to spell something? Because then it'd be worth waiting for him to wake up," I replied. "Otherwise, I may be able to help."

When it comes to weight loss, it's too often not just about getting healthy. It's about a fantasy. The fantasy that skinny means perfect. Skinny means happy. Skinny means it all comes together and you never have to worry about anything again. One woman was astonished to find out this wasn't true when she lost 180 pounds -- and life wasn't magically transformed into something out of a fairy tale. After having bariatric surgery, Jen Larsen, who wrote a book about her experience, says:

I was skinny, but my life wasn’t suddenly and magically perfect -- and that completely astonished me.

She found out the hard way that external conditions don't change your insides. It's like that old saying: Wherever you go, there you are.

Like the majority of women in America, my weight has fluctuated since I was in high school. Since I’ve given birth twice in that time, it’s fluctuated wildly. Growing a human is hard work, man! In my case, it required bean and cheese burritos and fries. Hmmm … I don’t really wonder why I gained such a huge amount when pregnant with my eldest daughter.

My weight over the last decade and a half has ranged from 115 pounds as a vegetarian 16-year-old swimmer to number that started with two the day I gave birth to my first daughter, and everything in between. I’ve dealt with the stigma of being heavy and the contempt of others when I was thin and fit. It seems like you just can’t win as a woman sometimes.

Rob Kardashian probably wishes he was in the news for reasons other than his breakup with pop star Rita Ora and nasty behavior toward sister Kim ... But thanks to the magic known as another episode of Kourtney & Kim Take Miami, we got another inside look at the Kardashian bro's life, and it's all sorts of gloomy!

Khloe revealed on the show that Rob had been stressed throught his relationship with Rita, which really did a number on his self-esteem. And Rob confessed that during the year he was with his ex, "All I did was waste a lot of money and gain 40 pounds.” Eep! Then, to make matters even worse, he began coping with the aftermath of his breakup by having random sexual encounters in Miami. What a mess. Not that my heart exactly goes out to him, but the guy has clearly been suffering from depression ...

Sure, she's got the stress of her divorce and she's sure to have her hands full with her pregnancy, but overall, Kim Kardashian is living such a big, crazy, glitzy life these days, most of us couldn't imagine why she would want to be living it any differently. Nonetheless, during a photoshoot for UK Cosmopolitan magazine, Kim and Khloe discussed filling out the magazine's questionnaire and in particular, what Kim would do if she were a man for the day. Ha, you know, just one of those random, silly Qs, the kind that Beyonce occasionally sings about.

But while both might be in relationships with hip-hop royalty, Kim's game plan "if she were a boy" was kiiinda different from Bey's. She said, "If I was a man, I would want to know what it's like to have sex with myself. I would just want to know what it would feel like." Uh ... huh!

Earlier this morning, a survey over on TODAY Moms caught my eye because of a simple question it poses that just happens to be something I've struggled with for years.

It reads, "Do you love your body?"

And upon seeing it, I immediately blurted out, "No. I hate it." And then I felt like "hate" was a little too harsh, so in my mind, I thought to myself, "I guess I don't hate it. I just don't love it. And I wish it looked a hell of a lot better."

Want to guess what I did next? Duh, I took the survey. And some of the results really surprised me and gave me a much needed wake-up call.