What Are Some Things You Find Challenging In Your Marriage?

Be certain that when you marry that you are marrying the person you see as your best friend in the world that you can share anything with, be yourself at your worst and your best with. Things only get difficult from here on out and that is who you need to get through all the nasty bits of life with a partner and not on your own.

Work at it.. when things get tough talk about it.. work on it.. I do think that people give up too easily... the minute things don't seem like a fairytale they cut and run.. It takes two to tango.. SO tango together, talk, work things out

There's a piece out there somewhere that relationships are really about 'settling' if we're honest. I wanna say it was from Dan Savage, who isn't a bad guy to read if you like to reflect on questions like the one you've posted here.

Basically, we all have our virtual [i]ideal[/i] and a relationship is all about how far we can wander(settle) from that standard to find someone who can put up with us - and our own variation from [i][b]their[/b][/i] ideal.

Personally, I have never seen anyone change their partner into that virtual ideal they grew up picturing. That is not to say I have never seen anyone change their partner for the better - maybe [i][b]much[/b][/i] better in my own case. But as a rule, there isn't much future in re-creating another human to be your sidekick.

Give your relationship priority and keep it front and center. Don't let it gradually recede or start to fall by the wayside. Make a point of doing things together on a regular basis, especially once you have children, once a week at least.

i would say the challenging stuff after three decades was the same stuff that was challenging in year 1. So my advice is to realize your ant change the person you marry.