Most romantic relationships inevitably experience challenges they need to overcome. It takes a lot of time and effort to get to know your partner, yourself, and the dynamics of the relationship. Disagreements are an important aspect of any relationship as they show your and your partner's ability to compromise with each other.
Unfortunately, such conflicts can put parts of our personality on display that we weren’t necessarily aware of. This is a story of a young mom seeking advice online on her marriage, as she feels emotionally checked out of the relationship and wants a divorce.
More Info: Reddit
Feeling emotionally absent in a relationship is difficult, especially when it's not clear how to proceed next
Image credits: Liza Summer (not the actual photo)
A young mom approached Reddit for advice, as she started feeling completely checked out of her marriage
Image credits: SHVETS production (not the actual photo)
The woman explains the circumstances of why feelings for her husband have grown cold, the main reason being his absence in their household
Image credits: SHVETS production (not the actual photo)
The husband doesn't help the young mom with raising their 18-month toddler or household chores at all
Image Credits: u/Far_Lychee_6089
Over time, this has led to the woman's burnout as she's tired of doing everything single-handedly, resulting in thoughts of divorce
Recently a young mom approached Reddit’s r/TwoHotTakes community to ask for marriage advice. As of late, she has had doubts about the relationship with her husband for a multitude of reasons, including their 18-month-old child, and wanted an outside perspective.
The woman is a stay-at-home mom, but that doesn’t mean that she’s not working. She has a full-time job, working from home, and makes the same amount as her husband does. The dissatisfaction with the relationship for the lady started after she and her husband had their first child and got married.
Just 8 months passed after their wedding, and the woman started feeling stuck in the relationship. The primary reason is that the husband is inattentive to her and their child's needs. Even though she’s working full-time, the woman has been left to single-handedly take care of the household, and their 18-month toddler too.
Naturally, over the months, the young mom started feeling burnt out. It all resulted in a huge row with her husband, as she didn’t feel she should be holding all corners of the house alone. Nor should she. Unfortunately, “during this fight, he genuinely was not listening to anything I was saying and just ignoring me.” Given that the conflict had a truly legitimate reason, the woman felt unappreciated.
Since the fight occurred on Saturday and the woman left on a girls’ trip for a week, she got a well-deserved psychological break. Upon her return home, she decided to give her husband one more chance, even though she was already considering divorce. Sadly, she was let down by her husband again.
Mother’s Day came around soon after, and the young mom hoped that at least she would be appreciated on that occasion. However, the husband didn’t do anything for her. This left her with a deep sense of underappreciation, as well as devastation. From the young woman’s point of view, she would’ve chosen to stick around for at least a bit longer, to see if things improved.
This all culminated in a complete interest loss. Afterward, the husband started trying to be a better dad to his son and help the mom out with chores and other child care, but it all felt overdue. Probably due to his wife starting distancing herself. In recent days, the husband has been a lot more affectionate, but all of his attempts to rekindle the marriage feel out of place, and she’s been rejecting him ever since.
The woman’s post ends with a plea to the Reddit community, asking for advice on how to proceed next. According to a study covered in this article, the first year of marriage is crucial. Couples in new marriages experience adjustments that partners need to undergo together. Interestingly, a decline in positive emotions for your partner within 2 years of a marriage is a strong indicator of a divorce.
The marriage might not conclude by then, but the risk increases in the following 13 years. There's a plethora of reasons why people divorce, one of them being serious responsibilities. In 2024, in an article published by Forbes, it is covered that 43% of all marriages end in divorce. Additionally, the median age of first marriage is increasing due to financial circumstances and less societal pressure. The median age of marriage was 30.5 for men and 28.6 for women, an increase of 1.4 and 1.5 years respectively.
How do you feel about the woman's reasons for the divorce? Do you think the marriage could still be repaired, or is it too far gone? What would be your advice for the woman? Let us know in the comments below.
Redditors provide insights into how parenthood should work, support the young mom
