You've found your soul mate.  You've found the place to have the wedding.  You've committed to spending the rest of your lives together.  Love can be a beautiful thing!

 

BUT ... combining two individual lives together can take some work!

 

Here's some issues that may arise which are sometimes difficult to negotiate.

 

    * Religious Issues: Their family is Baptist and yours is Catholic.  Or, maybe you believe that aliens seeded all life and your spouse believes in Creationism.  Maybe everything comes from a giant magnet!  Whatever you believe, the other person might not, and that can sometimes be a difficult thing to resolve.  Especially when considering how you will raise any potential children.

 

    * Sex: How much do you need?  How much does the other person want?  Are one of you going to pout if you don't get enough?  Is the other person going to feel guilty and give in even though they are not enjoying it, so then it becomes a chore?  These issues must be worked through.

 

    * Parenting: To spank or not to spank.  Private school or public.  Baseball or basketball?  Bad cop, good cop.  How you raise children may be very important to you, and come to find out that the other person had something else in mind.

 

    * Money: Are you going to share or have separate bank accounts?  Who works and who raises the children?  Do you want to spend money and your spouse wants to save money?  There are no shortage of issues that can arise when dealing with the mighty dollar.

 

    * Family Circles: How much time do you want to spend with each other's families?  Do you like each other's families?  Is there someone in the family who is too intrusive in your relationship?  All problems that can be difficult if not properly handled.

 

    * Managing Conflict: No matter what, there is always going to be something that comes up that causes trouble.  This is a guaranteed fact of life.  So being able to manage conflicts in a healthy way with proper communication is a cornerstone to a solid relationship.  We can help by teaching ways to contain conflicts that arise before they become unnecessarily large issues.

 

If you are preparing to tie the knot, or evaluating whether or not this is the right choice in your relationship, Pursuit of Happiness counselors can give you an edge, and help you to lead a satisfying and successful relationship until death do you part!