For many women, marriage is something they’ve been looking forward to since they were a little girl.
While it’s undoubtedly an exciting and momentous experience in life, it’s far from the only life-changing and all-important event.
For this reason, it’s best not to rush your trip down to the altar even if you’ve been with your significant other for several years, or even decades.
Marriage changes everything. You go from ‘all about me’ to ‘all about us.’ The key, is to not lose yourself in the process.
How do you make sure you don’t do that? Well, for starters, you can start crossing off this list of experiences that help prepare you mentally, emotionally, and physically for a successful and long-lasting marriage.
Here’s a list of them below:
1. Live by yourself or with roommates
If you’ve been dating your S.O. since college, it might make sense to just move on in together post-graduation, but this may likely be your only chance to ever have lived separately as adults. Living alone teaches you so many things. You learn how to be financially and emotionally independent—paying all of your bills gives you a sense of accomplishment and spending a few weekends and weekday nights alone gives you strength.
2. Be financially independent
Along the same lines of being able to live on your own, having a solid grasp on our own finances will go a long way in making you feel ready to get hitched. Whether you have a career or a good-paying job, being financially independent means you are not going to get married because you need to. You have worth. This also means that should you for any reason split up or divorce, you’ll be able to stand on your own two feet.
3. Establish a solid support system
Getting married many times shifts your friend circle, naturally because you have less time to spend with the girls and are adjusting to married life. You may find that you and your husband entertain and go out together, possibly with other couples so it’s important to nurture your relationships with your good friends.
4. Travel the world
If you haven’t yet had (or taken) the opportunity to see and experience the beautiful world around you, before you wed is the time to do so. Of course, you can travel with your future spouse, but having the experience of traveling solo or with friends on your own accord—experiences that you can carve out for yourself and decide what they mean to you as an individual—can help solidify who you are as a person.
5. Stop sharing every detail of your relationship with others
When you first met or started dating, you might have unveiled every tiny detail about your new S.O. to your friends and maybe even your family. But now that you’re serious, it’s important to preserve and protect the integrity of the relationship. When you get mad, no Facebook rants or cryptic quotes about a fight you may be having and no more calling all of your friends for consensus about whether you are right or wrong in an argument.
6. Develop a hobby or two
Hobbies not only make you more interesting, but they give you your own time and space, which will come in handy when you enter your marriage. Whether it’s running, reading, writing, yoga or meditation, having an outlet to express yourself and relieve tension and stress in your life will make you a better spouse and a happier person overall.
7. Date and have relationships
While not everyone has the luxury of being with other people before they say “I do,” relationship experts agree that it can be tremendously beneficial in helping you know who is right for you and who is wrong for you.
