At some point after the wedding festivities died down, you woke up and realized that you’d made a mistake. After the infatuation faded you recognized that you didn’t want to live with this person for the rest of your life. As you’ve both grown older you’ve both changed, but in different directions. Maybe it’s the day after or maybe it’s years down the road after you’ve had 2 or 3 children.
You think it’s just a phase and you try to handle it. You talk to friends. You confide in family. Maybe you seek marriage counseling alone or as a couple. But as the weeks turn into months and the months turn into years you come to realize that you need to make a decision: (1) whether to stay in an unhappy marriage and stick it out “for the sake of the children” or, (2) whether to leave an unhappy marriage and part ways “for the sake of the children.” The same rationale for the same concerns, but with completely different answers. The right time to end a failing marriage is all about perspective.
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