Everybody told you that the “honeymoon phase” of your marriage would eventually give way to daily routines and ordinary life — and you were fine with that. You weren’t expecting, however, for your relationship with your spouse to fizzle away entirely.
Yet, here you are. You’re starting to wonder if your marriage is going to last (or whether you even want it to do so).
How can you tell if divorce is in your future? According to relationship experts, there are four basic signs that your marriage is failing:
- The criticism is flowing: When spouses attack each other’s character instead of addressing complaints about behavior, that can be very destructive to the relationship.
- There’s a lot of defensiveness: Effective communication over any problems in the relationship has to be handled without getting the ego involved. You can’t work on an issue if the other person immediately starts denying there’s a problem or tries to reflect the issue right back at you while denying any responsibility.
- There’s stonewalling: If every dispute ends with one of you shutting down or walking out, that’s a bad sign. One party may be overwhelmed — or they may simply be enforcing their own views by refusing to communicate at all.
- The contempt is apparent: Whether it’s expressed through eye rolls, loud sighs or outright mocking, contempt indicates a lack of respect. If you don’t respect your spouse (or your spouse doesn’t respect you), why are you there?
Ending a marriage — even a short one — is a big decision. You’re wise to consider each step carefully. For more information on your legal rights moving forward, consider speaking with an experienced advocate.