ARTICLE: Stages of Marriage
STAGE 1
The Newlywed Bubble: The First Year of Marriage
Even for couples who lived together before exchanging their vows, most marriages begin with a period of excitement. Negative feelings are swept aside by the optimism of both partners as they begin to share a future. 'Nature takes over in ways that encourage mating to occur...love is blinder than it will ever be again,' says Maggie Scarf, author of Intimate Partners: Patterns in Love and Marriage.
These positive feelings help a couple face the often daunting issues of the first year. Money -- who handles it and how it's allocated -- is a key issue for many couples. Time apart versus time together, division of household responsibilities, even who controls the television remote, are among the issues couples must begin to hammer out.
This is complicated by the fact that almost everyone enters marriage with preset ideas of what a marriage relationshipshould be, and often unconsciously tries to recreate their parent's marriage.
Danger: Ideas of what a marriage should be get in the way of true intimacy, forcing you to reenact roles instead of relating honestly to each other.
Opportunity: Acknowledge and let go of your learned ideas of what a marriage should be. Face down your preconceived notions of marriage and you can decide what really works for you, forming a good foundation for the next phases of marriage.
Here is the rest of the article:
Stages Of Marriage
The Newlywed Bubble: The First Year of Marriage
Even for couples who lived together before exchanging their vows, most marriages begin with a period of excitement. Negative feelings are swept aside by the optimism of both partners as they begin to share a future. 'Nature takes over in ways that encourage mating to occur...love is blinder than it will ever be again,' says Maggie Scarf, author of Intimate Partners: Patterns in Love and Marriage.
These positive feelings help a couple face the often daunting issues of the first year. Money -- who handles it and how it's allocated -- is a key issue for many couples. Time apart versus time together, division of household responsibilities, even who controls the television remote, are among the issues couples must begin to hammer out.
This is complicated by the fact that almost everyone enters marriage with preset ideas of what a marriage relationshipshould be, and often unconsciously tries to recreate their parent's marriage.
Danger: Ideas of what a marriage should be get in the way of true intimacy, forcing you to reenact roles instead of relating honestly to each other.
Opportunity: Acknowledge and let go of your learned ideas of what a marriage should be. Face down your preconceived notions of marriage and you can decide what really works for you, forming a good foundation for the next phases of marriage.
Here is the rest of the article:
Stages Of Marriage
