If I had a penny for whenever people asked me why I married “early”, I’d probably be a billionaire by now. FYI, I am 25 and married at 24. For a lot of people, that age does seem to be a young age to get hitched. Not so much in my case, though. It did take me by surprise when the engagement was set, but by and by, I realized that if you’re not ready by 24-25, you’d never be ready anyway. Marriage isn’t something anyone can ever be completely prepped for. It’s something you dive it, and eventually enjoy!
Most of the conversation concerning young marriage is negative, and the few who do advocate for young marriage aren’t really laying out any romantic reasons. For those of us who married young, our relationships are up for public debate, whether we like it or not. Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about whether or not marrying young is a good idea, but at the end of the day, marriage isn’t a one-size-fits-all deal. Everyone feels differently.
But regardless of where you stand on the “young marriage debate,” there are still advantages to marrying young. And a young, strong marriage is still something to be celebrated rather than written off as a failure waiting to happen.
Here is my side of the story, and some reasons as to why I love my “young” marriage ☺☺
1. You get to grow up together. In the first few months of your marriage, you’ll probably get to experience being irresponsible, such as, sleeping late after movie-nights, impromptu dinner dates and what not. Later on eventually, you’ll slowly get to realize your responsibilities, making a living for yourselves, starting the “family” talk, taking better control of your household and simply being an ideal spouse and a smarter version of yourself!
2. More flexibility. Young couples, mostly, are never too much in a hurry into being the perfect home-runners. People you share a home with will be kind enough to allow you some space, to adjust yourself in a totally new light. You get to make mistakes and find time to rectify yourself. Because we got married in our 20s, we were still figuring out how to "live like grown ups" — which wasn't only easier to do together, but more fun.
3. Celebrating milestones. Most couples’ milestone is their first child. When you marry young, you have more milestones to look forward too, such as, setting up your first business together, buying your very own piece of furniture, eventually buying a new car, counting down to graduate your master’s degree (personal experience!).
4. No wedding pressure. You know how it is when aunties and uncles to come your folks and ask them when are we getting hitched? Yeah, get married early and save yourself the awkward situations. A must-read book I recently read was Meg Ray’s TED talk "Why 30 is not the new 20". She describes the enormous pressure that comes when everyone around you seems to suddenly marry at once. She describes the story often sounding like, “Dating in my twenties was like musical chairs, everybody was running around and having fun. But then sometime around 30 it was like the music turned off and everybody started sitting down. I didn’t want to be the only one left standing up.” Marrying young has left that pressure off my plate completely, and even though I don’t think about it often, it is a huge relief.
5. No more “where is everybody?” moment for you. This may be a small point compared to the ones above, but there have been countless moments for everyone, where they end up alone, either in parties, dinners, weddings, funerals, etc, probably because their friends take forever to get ready. When you’re married, your ever-faithful companion is always by your side!
6. Let’s not forget the little things that mean the world; watching horror movies and having someone to cling to anytime, beautiful mornings when you talk about the day to come, counting month-saries, re-decorating your room together, dropping each other to work, random McDonald’s midnight home delivery, comparing bicep size in the gym (high-five, hun!) and so much more!
Young marriages get to run the whole course from young and stupid to old and wise. It’s a beautiful journey to make together, and one I wouldn’t trade for the world.
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