"Most couples, when they fall passionately in love, do not even believe that one day their love may fade or shift to hate. These young individuals imagine their love is something in the sky and forever, and not earthly things. They do not see each other's weaknesses and often exaggerate each other's qualities. As life progresses, emotional feelings can decline, and reality becomes clearer [1]."
"The intense highs of those early days-the excitement, the can-not-stop-thinking-about-you feeling, seeing your partner as perfect-slowly settle into everyday routines. And at the same time, the weight of real life often gets heaviest. Many women are in the thick of raising kids, handling demanding careers, and increasingly caring for their own aging parents. The result is more than just exhaustion. It is a steady drain on emotional and mental energy."
Passionate early love often idealizes partners and overlooks flaws, producing intense highs that fade into routine. Life demands — childrearing, careers, and eldercare — accumulate and create chronic emotional and mental depletion. Midlife biological changes, particularly for many women, lower stress tolerance and reshape desires, contributing to higher divorce rates after age 40. Many marriages operate under outdated emotional contracts that are rarely renegotiated as partners change. Successful long-term relationships require conscious recalibration of roles, redistribution of labor, and acceptance of partner evolution. Without intentional changes, accumulated stresses can expose hidden cracks and make once-manageable issues feel insurmountable.
Read at Psychology Today
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