Nothing like a good old traditional life...

Our society has come a long way with it's views on relationships and marriage, For example it's no longer as expected for us to wait until marriage until we move in with our partner, and even to get married at all! But there is still quite a bit of pressure within some groups of people to follow these old traditions. But are they really the right way to go about things?

I love the freedom we have in our relationships today, being able to live with our partners before marriage, and the fact the pressure has been taking off slightly to get married at all! To me, this means we can all make the decisions that are right for us!

Living with your partner before hand (co-habitation) is a great 'trial marriage' you learn a lot more about your partner, and even more importantly, you find out whether you can actually put up with them! A lot of couples break up after only a few months of living with each other. Why? Purely for the reason that they just aren't meant to be. So I really don't understand how people and some parties in the government can argue how co-habitation is really that wrong to our society, people complain about the divorce rate, and how it's going up, and a big part of that is because of this freedom we have with our lives and relationships, the negative stigma attached to divorce barely exists any more, and it just plainly lets people get along with their lives in a much more positive way. Before divorce was accepted into society, a lot of married couples weren't happy, some even lived apart, but stayed married because that was what was expected of them. They weren't happy, and trust me, if they accepted divorce back then, it would of been quite high then.

So just imagine how high the divorce rate would be today, if co-habitation didn't exist.... wow.

Personally, Like a lot of women out there, I'm pretty glad the focus of my life isn't to find a husband and have a family at some crazy young age! I don't think I could handle my mum trying to find me a husband while I'm only 19! I know even in our society the pressure is on when us women start to age around 25, not many of us like the idea of being husband-less and childless at age 30! Women have come so far through history, I can't wait to finish uni and get a job and earn my own way, so I don't have to rely on my husbands income. Especially with the employment crisis today! I'm not relying on a man to provide for me! Haha.

I personally have a lot of things I want to do with my life, and I think society today is great for being able to do that (apart from the employment crisis obviously!). I can do what I dream of doing before settling down and having to deal with the responsibility of having kids and what not. Even when I am married, there's no longer the expectation of becoming a full time housewife, (otherwise my husband would be seriously disappointed with my cleaning skills). I can continue to live my life just as I was before, just with the extra responsibility of putting with a male in your house!

And for those people who don't want to get married, there is still a little bit of pressure for us to do so, especially with the older generation expressing how they believe the important of marriage in our society. But for those people who don't believe in it, they can make that decision freely not to get married if that's what's best for them. The freedom in this is amazing, and we can all make the personal choices, and do what makes us happiest. I really believe this freedom really does benefit our relationships as a whole.

I personally love the idea of marriage, I can't really explain to you why, I guess it's just about the whole putting two people together, and creating that family. But the reality is, you don't need marriage to do that, everything that marriage stands for can be practised in any family, whether a couple is married or not.
For those religious people obviously it has more meaning within it to those non religious. I love the way society is more respectful of peoples decisions, it is more accepted to move in with your partner, and children without getting married and all the other topics I've mentioned today. If a family works and is happier feeling the need not to get married or whatever, then surely that family is better than a dysfunctional family? Some people do get married when they don't want to or aren't ready, and it affects them more emotionally then they thought, and it does break up families, and cause more trouble than what it's worth.
So if people are happy and that family is happy within their decisions, that's great right? Even if it does go against the old traditions.