Lexi Garcia
Editorial Assistant

One of the many things people think about when they get into relationships is whether or not their significant other is “the one.”

There really is no right time for when a couple feels like they are ready for the next step in their life together. The question is: is it the right step?

Being in my early 20s I start seeing friends around me getting engaged and starting that new chapter in their lives. Some of the many questions or thoughts that come into my head will either be how happy I am for them or if they’re making the right decision in the long run.

From the many instances that I’ve come across with couples, numerous relationships have ended with either a divorce or calling off the engagement. One of the many reasons being that they rushed into the relationship or that someone ended up cheating, which is a whole other story.

Getting married is a huge celebration and many religions have different traditions. Going through that process should be done once in your life as it is something you will remember for the rest of your life. Many go through 2-3 marriages and still have a celebration of some sort. What’s the significance of it, and does it even mean anything after it’s done more than once?

A recent CDC study shows that in 2019, there were a total of 2,015,603 marriages and 746,971 of those came out ending in divorce. Nearly half of the marriages.

Divorces, officially separating from your partner, can be expensive depending on whether you have kids and other important shared belongings.

Banks Law Firm in KCMO attorney Angelo Banks shared that, on average, a divorce can cost around $5,000. Depending on how smooth the process is and if kids, property, cars, etc., are involved it can go over $10-20,000.

Getting a divorce isn’t as easy as it sounds either. If you and your significant other go through the process with little to no fighting you’ll be able to finish it within six to eight months. If there’s fighting over who gets what property and how much time you spend with kids, it can span from 1-3 years.

One of the barriers that comes up for many couples would be who gets to keep the kid. To prevent the child from going through a traumatic experience, many couples end up staying together. The downside to this would be that the child doesn’t get to grow up in a home where they can see their parents express their love for each other. Unless you and your partner try to reconcile with each other, it would be better to get a divorce so that the child doesn’t hear the arguments or go through anything else they shouldn’t be involved in.

I may be biased from the experiences I have had within my family, and seeing multiple marriages and divorces in friends. Having one marriage or not getting married is better than seeing people coming and going from your life, or having your child see people come and go.