Le Divorce

This world would be an ever-happy place if all marriages worked. However, we know that this is not the case. We will always have marriages that end in divorce and we will have some that last. We need to analyze the reasons that lead to the breakup of a marriage and hopes that greater awareness helps to avert a few more divorces. A simple saying, “We marry the person not because we love him/her or his/her personalities, but just because we can tolerate and live with his/her drawbacks or points we do not like”; has depth.

Relationships are very important to us and have an effect on our psychological well-being. All the sharing and caring we provide one another gives us a sense of security and belonging, comfort, warmth, and happiness. Hence end of any relationship is painful, let alone marriage. While things come to a crashing halt for some couples, it may be a slow process of deterioration for others. Whatever the case maybe, divorce is never easy. Irrespective of whether you are the one to walk away from a relationship/marriage or walked away from, making a fresh start over always seems like a daunting prospect. There is also this emotional turmoil involving anger, guilt, confusion, sense of loss to contend with aside from having to deal with legal hassles and economical aspects of the break-up that need to be worked out. When there are children involved, the process can be even more heart wrenching.

Divorce comes about when a couple can no longer live together. It is nothing but the legal dissolution or termination of a marriage. All divorces boil down to one thing, which is unwillingness to work or compromise to make things work by one or both partners. The reasons for divorce are however multifold.

1. Wrong start, wrong end: A relationship that was initially thought as "meant to be" begins to crumble when the couple does not think things through before committing. Looking into the beginning of the relationship can usually give inkling as to where the problem lies. Some important differences that couples think will change over time or overlook at the start of a relationship can lead to irreconcilable differences. Marriage is a work in progress. It does take a lot of work and sometimes one has to bring in some alterations or even sacrifices in one's dreams and goals in order to make things work. Most often, couples do not give it enough time or put in the effort to make things work and are ready to call it quits and throw it all away.

All of us want to be with "the one" for us. When people begin to doubt that they will find that special person to share their life with and eventually give up, they end up settling for someone just because it is better than being alone, only to find themselves feeling empty and all the more lonely.

2. Broken trust: Trust is vital to any relationship. It is easily broken, but hard to repair. Infidelity leaves people devastated and puts them in a very precarious position. Feelings of distrust and betrayal leave the marriage shaky. Rebuilding trust in a marriage takes a lot out of people. Marriages where the couple is persistent enough in working towards rebuilding trust survive while others that are unable to restore trust fail.

3. Communication: Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people! (Larry James). This world is always changing and so are our lives. Changes in situations and work, lack of time to spend together, lack of communication can also lead to the gradual breakdown. The constant bickering on too very trivial issues, miscommunication, and misunderstandings take a toll over time, the relationship loses momentum, and people drift too very apart to get back up together again.

4. Abusive/addictive behavior: Substance abuses, alcohol, violent and abusive behaviors that sometimes extend to children are big marriage killers. Life gets even more complicated for those involved in such marriages and begins to put lives in jeopardy. The only healthy way out seems divorce.

5. Other factors: Money related issues, unemployment, and interference of other people such as family or friends, disagreements on whether or not to have children can be some of the other reasons for divorce. Sometimes religious and political differences can be an issue too.

Some couples are able to work through their issues with the help of marital counseling. However, it is always better if marriage is a well thought out decision. Premarital counseling can also help both the partners work out their differences and weigh out all the positives and the negative aspects of the relationship before entering into a commitment.

Whatever the causes may be and whether it is a quick divorce or a prolonged one and whether a couple’s decision to divorce is for the good or bad, people do not come out being the same as they were before the divorce. The longer the couple has lived together; serious are the effects it has on the couple, the children, family, and friends around them.