Cold, Hard Facts about Marriage

     I realize that I have been painting marriage as something that is warm and smiley and everything is hunky dory. But there are things that your parents and others will not teach you before and after you get married.

                             

                              

     Now I'm not saying that there are a lot of things you have to watch for, but there are certain things that need to be out there in the open so that you know about them.

     In  our day and age, the media and the news are only showing the downsides of marriage. Couples are getting divorced on t.v., others show that one night stands and sleeping around is the norm and is to be celebrated when it happens. The thing that we need to reconsider is, are we spending enough time on our relationships/marriages to make sure that our foundation we built won't be shaken?


     Turning to a happier note, with married couples there comes with it a string of benefits. Benefits such as longer, happier lives and lower risks of depression, which lead to overall better mental health. Marriage also helps both parties by offering higher levels of social integration and is a source of emotional support  from which both spouses draw a sense of being esteemed, valued, and cared about. What things about your relationship do you cherish the most?

     Especially with the other variation of marriage that are out there, such as cohabitation, lacks the necessary building blocks and experiences that marriage offers us. Many people who live together without any intent of getting married feel like their lives are less fulfilling. They also experienced decreased levels of happiness, health, and financial security. Quite interesting how this happens, right? Why is this the case? Is there something about marriage that keeps people together and increases their chances of happiness?

     Now in my opinion, I never thought about living with another person before I was married and I wasn't even a member of the church. Now a little backstory on my life, my parents were both members in their younger years, but fell away and chose to live different lifestyles. But throughout all that time, they kept the standards of the church in their lives and raised us kids with these standards throughout our lives. It was quite interesting to see the similarities when I joined the church and how my parents raised us. But my parents have gone through ups and down in their marriage and I have seen the effects of some decisions, but they always made sure that they worked things out.

     Now I know that many people did not grow up with this being possible, but we want to make sure that in some cases we do not become like our parents. We must make sure that we exemplify the best part of our parents and drop the ones that we find less than endearing.