Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Thoughts on someone else's blog

I was reading a friend's blog and he shared his thoughts on dating and how we shouldn't give up on it even if it doesn't seem to be very successful right now. That got me thinking about being a young single adult and being in the middle of the dating world. I think everyone needs to relax. It seems like YSAs have this idea that getting married will bring nothing but bliss and happiness. But the reality is that marriage, along with all the good things, also brings a whole new set of trials, problems, frustrations, and disappointments. When we get married, we're not never going to be lonely: we're just going to feel the loneliness more poignantly. We're not suddenly going to be rich (most of us): we're probably going to end up with a lot more financial struggles. We're not going to suddenly be beautiful, perfect, and amazing: we're still going to be our same wonderful, imperfect selves. I'm not writing this to be negative but hopefully to point out that happiness doesn't depend on our marital status. It depends on what we choose. There are so many amazing opportunities and advantages we have because we're single. Don't misunderstand me: we should certainly be dating and preparing ourselves to get married. And when we do get married, we should enjoy that stage of our lives. I'm just saying that I wish that as YSAs in general we appreciated all the blessings we have a little more and thought less about how happy we're going to be when we get married because if we're not happy now, we won't be then. Life is incredible! Even with all its trials, problems, heartaches, disappointments, and difficulties, we have so much! We're educated, we have opportunities, we can go anywhere we want to and do whatever we want to. As a former institute teacher said, "In my humble but correct opinion" the key to being happy and fulfilled in life doesn't come in a wedding ring but comes in loving, forgiving, serving, and trying to be humble. It comes in putting others before ourselves. If we're happier when we're married, I think it's only because we have someone to love unconditionally, forgive constantly, serve endlessly, and will humble us daily. We have someone to put ahead of ourselves. But why do we have to be married to do that? We interact with friends, family, coworkers, and roommates everyday. We can treat all of them that way and be happy now. Anyway, I get tired of hearing how hard life is being single and so I thought I would share my thoughts and hopefully we can all be more grateful for the amazing gift that is each of our lives.

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