Are relationships really meant to last forever? Not according to Marilyn Monroe's 1955 film Seven Year Itch. Or actress Sienna Miller (who doesn't believe in monogamy and thinks we're all just animals). Or my recently divorced friend Sarah who is now dating a model 10 years her junior. Let's talk about Sarah for a moment. After being married for seven years, having a child and then feeling lonely, depressed and "trapped" in her marriage, she decided that the thought of being in one relationship for the rest of her life was about as unappealing as a man who can't get it up.
"Who says relationships are meant to be forever?" she sniffed. "For me, it's more important to have three or four decade-long relationships, rather than just one long relationship that goes on forever" ...
While some might agree with her sentiment, others might conclude that her reasoning is simply due to the fact that the man she married just simply wasn't "the one".
When I asked Sarah about the relationship with her first husband, she admitted that, while he was pretty good on paper, there was never any real spark or chemistry.
"It all became so mundane too quickly," she explained. "Two years into it and the chemistry had evaporated."
While most people can't fathom the thought of losing someone they were once in love with (even if the relationship has about as much spark as a box of wet matches), others manage to think about their exes like seasons that pass. That they are there to teach you something, help you learn about yourself and lead you one step closer to finding true happiness ... without your ex around.
The trouble is that the honeymoon period gives us all false expectations. Everything is all so loving and dandy, romantic, sexy and filled with passion and chocolate dipped strawberries. Which makes it all the more disappointing when things don't work out.
Experts will tell you that it all turns to hell in a hand basket at about the seven-year mark of a relationship. It's at this point that couples seem to fall out of love. They start fighting, nagging and nit-picking at the little things and, before they know it, they're contemplating having affairs, moving out and never looking back.
Of course while life manages to get in the way of any relationship, should all this really spell the kiss of death? And how do you know that it's not meant to be, as opposed to one of you just being too darn picky?
According to a new survey carried out by personal grooming company Remington, it's not at the seven-year point that it all unravels, but it's actually the seven-month mark that we have to be wary of. After polling 1000 adults, the survey found that, at the seven-month mark, couples tend to stop grooming as much, let their bad habits get displayed and quit trying to impress each other.
You know how it is: bikini waxes are grown out, people go to the bathroom with the door open, everything starts to hang out and hang loose. Almost half of the respondents said it was after seven months together that they felt comfortable breaking wind around their partner and 68 per cent said it was time to start wearing unsexy clothes around the house.
But back to my question: what if relationships aren't meant to last forever? Can you ever have your cake and eat it too?
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