Last June, my husband came back from a long surfing trip and asked me for a divorce. I was stunned. Confused. Heartbroken. By then, we'd been married for nearly seven years - June 15th would've been our seventh wedding anniversary. To celebrate it, I had organized a short getaway.
Research on relationship dissolution - whether romantic, familial, or professional - consistently shows that the person who ultimately leaves has usually been signalling distress for a very long time. A study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that people go through a prolonged "disillusionment" phase before ending close bonds, marked by repeated attempts to address problems before emotionally disengaging.