Collectively, we’ve bought into “the happily ever after” myth, and inside that myth we simply expect our romantic relationships to last forever. When they don’t, we feel as if we’ve failed.
But the reality is that the happily ever after myth was created roughly 400 years ago when the average lifespan was less than 40 years of age and people had very few options in life. That’s a very different context than the lives we are living now.
In fact, studies show that serial monogamy is actually today’s norm, and that most of us will have two to three significant relationships in our lifetime. Often more.
We now live in a world where more of us will break up this year than buy a new car or eat grapefruit for breakfast. Clearly, it’s time we learned how to do this better.