If you or your partner have reached their limit and threatened divorce, here’s how to save your marriage instead and how to avoid divorce.
Marriage isn’t easy.
The best evidence for this fact can be found in the sky-high rates of divorce in this country. Indeed, anywhere between 40 and 50% of marriages now end in divorce.
That’s a scary statistic. After all, from the time you agree to marry your partner, there’s a 50% chance the relationship will end in separation. The worst part is it could destroy your financial life, and you could end up with debt collectors coming after you.
It doesn’t have to though.
All marriages go through rocky patches- it’s just part and parcel of making a life-long commitment to somebody! Stick with them and there’s every chance the relationship will take a positive turn.
Knowing how to avoid divorce can help you ride out the storm until that happens. Having some tools to draw upon in the tough times can make a mighty difference.
Experiencing the threat of divorce and want to know how to turn the situation around?
Read on for 6 tips on saving your marriage from divorce.
- Communicate
A significant proportion of all marital problems derive from a breakdown in communication.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of talking, sharing, and creating a safe space to discuss a problem. Leave everything unsaid and problems only ever escalate.
Make the effort to communicate more with your partner. It might not salvage the marriage by itself, but it will be a mighty help. Make sure you listen as well as talk, though. Try to really hear what your partner is saying and understand their issues.
The last thing you want is for the discussion to turn into an argument. Remain calm, bite your tongue, and focus on having an adult conversation.
- Get Some Space
Marriage is intense at the best of times.
It can feel like you spend every waking hour together. You’re in each other’s hair and under each other’s feet. Without getting sufficient time apart, it’s natural for different factors to start grating after a while.
Finding the balance between time together and apart isn’t easy. However, get it right and you’ll cultivate a stronger, healthier relationship in the process.
In difficult moments, having some time away from each other can come in handy too. For one thing, absence makes the heart grow fonder! You might get a taste of what divorced life would look like; chances are high that you’ll miss your partner and want them back in your life.
The time apart will also let heated issues cool down; space will help you gain perspective on what you really want.
- Stay In Shape
Staying in shape is helpful in two different ways.
Firstly, in difficult moments, exercise gets you out of the house and into a stress-relieving physical activity. You’ll get rid of pent up aggression and enjoy an influx of endorphins.
Ultimately, you’ll feel great and be better equipped to handle challenging relationship problems.
Secondly, staying in shape helps you become more confident and feel better about yourself. You’ll also remain more physically appealing to your partner.
Let’s face it, as time goes by, it’s easy to let our physical appearance slide! You take your partner’s love for granted and become complacent with how you look.
Compare that to how you conducted yourself in the early days! You wanted to look good for your partner and put in the effort as a result. Get back to that mentality and you’ll facilitate the longevity of the relationship.
- Go on Dates
Don’t stop dating.
It’s a recipe for trouble.
Just because you’ve been together for a decade (or two, or three) doesn’t mean you no longer have to make an effort for each other. Pull yourself out of the routine and do something fun together.
Build weekly dates into your schedule, where you spend time alone. That means no kids, phones, or other distractions. Go for meals out, watch movies at the cinema, go ice-skating, go away for the weekend, or anything!
This can be helpful as a preventative approach to divorce. Spending quality time together means you’re less likely to drift apart. But it should work as a remedial approach too. It’s about making the effort to be with your partner and putting your difference aside.
It might take time. However, you can get back to where you once were if you allow it to happen.
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- Let Things Slide
When tensions are high, little issues can very quickly escalate into big ones.
You can end up having huge arguments about the tiniest of matters.
If you want to save your marriage and avoid the divorce agreement, then you need to start letting these things slide. Continuous arguing is a one-way ticket to separation.
Be quick to forgive your partner, but remember that it’s a two-way street; they must apply the same amount of effort. Communication is important here as well. Work out why those tiny matters are bugging you so much, and then sit down to talk about it.
It goes without saying that bigger issues usually lurk behind immaterial arguments. The only way to ascertain and resolve the root problem is to have an open conversation.
- Go to Marriage Counselling
Tried everything, but nothing seems to be making a difference?
Well, you might need professional support. Going to see a marriage counselor is a great way to address the problems in your relationship in a safe space.
Both parties get a chance to discuss their feelings and thoughts; issues that arise are addressed with a moderator in place to prevent them from escalating.
Ultimately, you begin to understand your partner’s perspective and empathize more. The counselor can then offer useful insight and advice to support you in resolving matters.
Exactly How to Avoid Divorce
Marriage can be a long a difficult road at times.
It’s natural for problems to occur along the way, and for periods of intense unhappiness to arise as a result. Unfortunately, many people look to divorce as the solution.
Knowing how to avoid divorce can help you find alternative ways out of trouble.
Hopefully, this post will prove useful in that endeavor.
Want to read more articles like this one? Check out our similar posts in the ‘Relationships’ section of the website.
