In the 20th Century:
You get one love per lifetime.
In the 21st Century:
You love anew in each life stage.
As a kid, I assumed all adults were married. They were old, and all old people came in twos, right? 🤣
Being single was for young people. They were the ones who got to enjoy dating and experimenting and swoon-worthy romance.
Once a woman got married, she put aside her craving to be courted and romanced. She’d had her fun. It was time to get down to the business of making a home and family.
What’s wonderful about the 21st century is that we no longer have to leave that dream of being romanced behind.
We can date and experiment and feel that alive again.
Life Isn’t Over
A common theme in the 21st century is a woman emerging from the cocoon of marriage to rediscover herself as a single woman again.
She discovers who she is. She tastes freedom. She takes romantic risks.
She finds that her heart still works after all those years.
Although popular media would have you believe that single adult women are desperate to remarry, that’s not the story I’m hearing.
More and more women are questioning how much marriage actually serves them. They like their life. They don’t want to be held back by a husband.
A Tragedy or A Blessing?
Just look at Hollywood power couple Hugh Jackman and Deborra-lee Furness. They were one of the most admired couples in Hollywood for their rock-solid marriage.
But in September 2023, they separated after 27 years together. They explained:
Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth.”
If you’re a growth-oriented person—as both Jackman and Furness clearly are—you’re going to keep growing and change.
To grow and change in unison for 27 years is absolutely extraordinary.
In the past, many marriages benefited from personal stagnation. If you remained the same person who married him all those years ago, and he remained the same person you married, then you remained compatible.
But once you embark on a journey of growth and evolution, you run the risk of outgrowing your partner.
Is it a tragedy when your lives take you in different directions?
Or is it a blessing that your love lasted as long as it did?
The Only Constant Is Change
We don’t expect to wear the same clothes that we wore 20 years ago.
We don’t expect to be doing the same thing in our career as we were 20 years ago.
Perhaps we shouldn’t expect our love lives to stagnate, either.
Questions to consider:
Is splitting up because you’ve grown apart just for Hollywood?
Can you become all you want to be in this lifetime if your husband wants everything to stay the same?
Let us know what you think!