Guest Author: The Tyranny of “Happily Ever After”

[Shana A]

Guest Author: The Tyranny of "Happily Ever After"
Posted by helenboyd on 06/5/10 1:11 PM

http://www.myhusbandbetty.com/2010/06/05/the-tyranny-of-happily-ever-after/

Kimberly Kael, a regular poster to our forums, wrote this recently & I thought it really stood repeating:

    Here's a question that has been bothering me lately and that I've been trying to put into words: does the social emphasis on happily ever after as the canonical goal for relationships do more harm than good?

    Sometimes the notion of true love feels like the platonic ideals of male and female – it serves as an interesting point of reference but taken too seriously it becomes a source of frustration because none of us can really live up to the implied expectations. That's not to say there isn't merit in aspiring to a durable relationship. I'm sure it's been reinforced in many ways. There are relationships that look perfect and effortless from the outside. There are times in our lives when we've had that kind of connection and we want to hang onto it forever.