I grew up in a happy family. My parents have always worked through life’s problems together. But as I got older, I began to see a different picture of marriage among people my age. TV dramas increasingly focused on divorce and broken relationships, while several close friends and my sister began sharing their own difficult experiences. Hearing those stories, alongside rising divorce rates, made me question whether marriage was still something people needed, and what it meant to commit to something that might one day end. My doubts and disappointments kept building.
By chance, I met a divorced man with a child. I was curious about how he understood marriage after going through a divorce, and we dated for five months. He spoke openly about his experience: the arrival of their baby, the pressure on their careers, the eventual separation, and how he and his former partner gradually reached an agreement about raising their child together.
Some parts of his story saddened me. But hearing how they had worked through difficult moments changed the way I thought about divorce. It did not have to mean that love had failed or that life was over. Sometimes it can be part of a painful process through which people grow and find a way forward. There can be more than one way through a difficult ending. If you still want to love someone, go and love. Do not let the idea of marriage — or the experience of a failed marriage — stop you from pursuing love and happiness.