

{"id":41241,"date":"2019-08-08T11:45:29","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T11:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/?p=41241"},"modified":"2025-06-30T12:51:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T12:51:29","slug":"marriage-realizations-challenges-and-holding-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/marriage-realizations-challenges-and-holding-on\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd Year of Marriage \u2013 Realizations, Challenges, and Holding On"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-41243 size-full\" title=\"2nd Year of Marriage &ndash; Realizations, Challenges, and Holding On\" src=\"https:\/\/image.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2nd-Year-of-Marriage-%E2%80%93-Realizations-Challenges-and-Holding-On.jpg\" alt=\"2nd Year of Marriage &ndash; Realizations, Challenges, and Holding On\" width=\"804\" height=\"350\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Congratulations! You are now on your <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2nd year of marriage,&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and you&rsquo;re still together!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We&rsquo;re not kidding here; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/surviving-an-anniversary\/\">every year of marriage is a milestone<\/a>. For all those who are married, you&rsquo;d agree that this is a reality and that if you are on your second year of staying married, then you&rsquo;re doing something right, but what does really happen in the second year of marriage?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the realizations, challenges, and even the secrets of holding on to your vows in marriage?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is-your-marriage-going-through-the-%E2%80%9Cterrible-twos%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>Is your marriage going through the &ldquo;terrible twos?&rdquo;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does a toddler experiencing terrible twos have in common with a married couple in their <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2nd year of marriage<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? A child who is two years of age is said to be experiencing terrible two&rsquo;s, and it&rsquo;s also one of the terms that you can describe life after marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do they have in common? The answer is adjustments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if a couple has already lived together for years before getting married, chances are, there are still <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/8-common-problems-in-married-life\/\">marriage struggles<\/a> to be experienced in the first few years of marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may say that living together is enough time to adjust, but marriage is very far from just living together. Why do you think so?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marriage is a union of two people. So, once you&rsquo;re married, everyone views the two of you as one. What does this have to do with early marriage problems? Everything.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think of your every decision as &ldquo;we&rdquo; and &ldquo;ours&rdquo;. It&rsquo;s no longer for yourself but the both of you. Aside from this adjustment, you begin to see the real person you married. Believe it or not, even years of living together won&rsquo;t make the adjustment easier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>From daily chores to budgeting, from sexual intimacy to jealousy, marriage will show you how challenging it is to be as one as your spouse.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, it&rsquo;s not easy, and the marriage stressors can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when the issues become bigger and uncontrollable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While 2-year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/solutions-for-8-common-relationship-issues\/\">relationship problems<\/a> in marriage is normal, there are some cases where realizations come in, and you find yourself marrying the wrong person.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is where divorce in<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">early marriage<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> comes in. Disillusionment in marriage is more common than you think, and hopefully, it doesn&rsquo;t come to this on your <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2nd year of marriage<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Realizations-in-your-2nd-year-of-marriage\"><\/span>Realizations in your 2nd year of marriage<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adjusting to married life is no walk in the park, and any family members or friends that you know would tell you the same thing.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the peak of your <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2nd year of marriage, you<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> begin to see realizations about your union, which in turn can make or break your relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>It&rsquo;s how you handle your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/things-you-learn-in-the-first-year-of-marriage\/\">first year of marriage<\/a> problems that will determine how strong you are in the second, third, and fourth year of your union.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Expecting-too-much-won%E2%80%99t-work\"><\/span>Expecting too much won&rsquo;t work<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depression and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/separation\/why-does-a-marriage-breakdown\/\">marriage breakdown<\/a> happens when you can no longer take the disappointments and frustrations in marriage because your expectations didn&rsquo;t match up to the person you married.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/experts\/jenni-jacobsen\" target=\"_blank\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Jennifer Jacobsen Schulz<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, LCSW:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">People often enter into marriage expecting to experience endless romantic bliss, but when real life sets in, they may be disappointed.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expectations are needed so we can achieve our goals, but too much of it will often lead to disappointments and this can lead to falling out of love and respect for one another.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"You-can%E2%80%99t-just-ignore-problems\"><\/span>You can&rsquo;t just ignore problems<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-41244 size-full\" title=\"You can&rsquo;t just ignore problems\" src=\"https:\/\/image.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/You-can%E2%80%99t-just-ignore-problems.jpg\" alt=\"You can&rsquo;t just ignore problems\" width=\"804\" height=\"350\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a married person, you have to realize that you can&rsquo;t just ignore problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you&rsquo;re too tired to discuss, find time to do it later on, but don&rsquo;t disregard it. Over time, this can cause resentment and bigger issues. You have to remember that a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2-year relationship <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bonded by marriage also means that you have to understand that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/how-to-deal-with-disagreements-in-a-relationship\/\">there will be disagreements<\/a> , but don&rsquo;t let it ruin your marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"There-will-be-financial-disagreements\"><\/span>There will be financial disagreements<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have heard that money isn&rsquo;t the source of happiness, you&rsquo;re right, but if you say that money will never matter to you, then that&rsquo;s not entirely true.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Money does matter, and there will be times where you&rsquo;ll have disagreements about it too. Marriage is hard and building a family is harder, sometimes, it can take a toll on yourself and your marriage. If you have a spouse who doesn&rsquo;t know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/finance\/quick-tips-to-managing-finances-in-marriage\/\">how to budget finances<\/a>, this can cause some issues financially.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Social-network-and-influences-will-cause-issues\"><\/span>Social network and influences will cause issues<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social media, as beneficial as they are to us, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/social-media-ruins-relationships\/\">it will also cause some pretty big issues in marriage<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One thing to realize in your first couple of years in marriage is that sometimes, social networks and influences of friends and co-workers can cause some issues between you and your spouse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&rsquo;s harmless, some say as they defend their flirting actions in social media or with other people but being married has its limitations, and this is one of the most common reasons why couples drift apart.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"There-will-be-temptations\"><\/span>There will be temptations<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We don&rsquo;t mean to burst anyone&rsquo;s bubble here, but <\/span><b>there will always be temptations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Life will test you with it too!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you&rsquo;re in your second year of marriage, then that&rsquo;s a good sign. Being tempted is normal, we&rsquo;re all humans, but what&rsquo;s not right is giving in to it even if you know that it&rsquo;s wrong. One of the most common <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/save-your-marriage\/reasons-why-marriages-fail\/\">reasons of failing marriage<\/a> is infidelity and this is one realization that we all should know.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Overcoming-challenges-and-holding-on\"><\/span>Overcoming challenges and holding on<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/love\/maintain-love-in-married-life\/\">Staying in love after marriage<\/a> is everyone&rsquo;s goal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Staying together until your hair turns gray is everyone&rsquo;s dream but as life happens, challenges also start testing our vows with each other.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Jacobsen Schulz highlights that:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Experiencing challenges in your marriage doesn&rsquo;t mean that the relationship is doomed; it means that you&rsquo;re experiencing real life together.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indeed, it&rsquo;s true that the first ten years of our union would also be the most difficult years of marriage,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and that&rsquo;s not exaggerating it. Getting to know someone, living with them, adjusting to their beliefs and working together in<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/parenting\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">raising children together<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will test you in every way possible but you know what? That&rsquo;s why they call it growing old together, both of you will grow not just in age but also in wisdom and knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You overcome challenges and hold on to your vows because you just don&rsquo;t love each other, you respect and value your spouse as a person. So, if you are someone who&rsquo;s in their <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2nd year of marriage <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ndash; congratulations! You have a long way to go, but you&rsquo;re starting strong.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congratulations! You are now on your 2nd year of marriage,&nbsp;and you&rsquo;re still together! We&rsquo;re not kidding here; every year of marriage is a milestone. For all those who are married, you&rsquo;d agree that this is a reality and that if you are on your second year of staying married, then you&rsquo;re doing something right, but what does really happen in the second year of marriage? What are the realizations, challenges, and even the secrets of holding on to your vows in marriage? Is your marriage going through the &ldquo;terrible twos?&rdquo; What does a toddler experiencing terrible twos have in common <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":675,"featured_media":41243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[2625],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41241"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/675"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41241"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110101,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41241\/revisions\/110101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}