Divorce: The Easy Way or the Only Way?

 Nobody gets married with the intention of getting a divorce, but for about half of us, divorce is the ultimate end to a marriage.  The latest data show that in Texas there are 2.6 divorces per thousand people- this is down significantly from the peak of 5.5 in 1990, but still represents approximately 75,000 divorces!  And this rate has been steady for several years. Everyone knows that everything is bigger in Texas.  This apparently includes divorces.  ​

Why is divorce so prevalent?  Is it because rash decisions are made every day and people tend to make bad choices when they enter into something without thinking it through first?  Perhaps.  I've seen plenty of that in my career.  But if that is true, it still brings up the old "chicken or the egg" type of question.  Is divorce so prevalent because people make a rash decisions and marry incompatible partners, or is it because they make a rash decision to divorce as means to solve their general dissatisfaction with their lives?

The answer is of course, different for everyone.   But it is true that many people mistake the true source of their unhappiness.  They may assume a marriage in distress is the cause of their unhappiness, when in fact, it may be that a troubled marriage is just a symptom of distress that originates from other problems such as financial mismanagement, poor communication skills or past psychological trauma. 

​Everyone should take a careful look before they leap into divorce because once started, a divorce may be hard to reign back in.   There is no doubt that staying married can be painful, but divorce is pretty painful too.  So think carefully, and get all the information you can before you decide to divorce so that you know you are going down the path.