Saving a Marriage Makes More Sense Than Starting Over
For folks who have been victimized by a break-up, seeking advice online might be a first step. However, stressed by the circumstances of the relationship, these people are vulnerable to unproductive and inaccurate advice. Often, they are seeking way to get back with an ex and instead get bombarded with calls to end the relationshp and move on, be an adult, et cetera, et cetera. While some relationships are not worth saving, so many forum respondents choose to promote a break up rather than encourage saving a marriage or any other worthwhile union.
Two reasons exist for why saving a marriage or other relationship should be a primary response (in most cases, anyway). Additionally, with the divorce rate continuing to increase — it sits at 50% for first marriages today, 67% for second marriages, and 74% for third marriages — sometimes to get back with an ex really just makes logical sense.
The first is that a lot of people who post advice on these forums do not know the relationship. Coincidentally, these same people will comment on the high divorce rate and bash people who get married or hook up only to break up after so little time. Well, duh, they are the ones encouraging this! If you have ever visited such a forum, you have seen the so-called advice too often: “He dumped you, move on, get over him and find someone else, girl, be strong!” Understand that these posts are based only on several small details; they do not have a full grasp of the circumstances that led to the original post.
The second reason has to do with the fact that people who get “dumped” often act irrationally as a result of the loss of control. This behavior can complicate the relationship. Often, people get far too caught up in the emotion of the situation (which makes sense as we are emotional creatures) and instead of saving a marriage, they actually cause “structural damage.” This can range from name-calling to phone- or text-message stalking. Keep in mind that the one who did the dumping never fell in love with a crazy stalker, so it is unlikely that this person will take a crazy stalker back. The situation calls for rational, logical thinking and behavior.
The reason saving a marriage makes sense is that both parties are more inclined to stick with something they have grown accustomed to rather than starting something new. Most people prefer a comfort zone and are averse to change, even when change makes sense. This explains why so many people might stay in relationships that might border on emotionally abusive. Still, a lot of these forum posters fail to see this.
A last note is that by encouraging people to move on, these forum posters are shifting the onus of the break up to the person seeking the advice. Not only will these posters encourage the broken-up party to move on, but they will point out flaws in the other party without knowing the full story. Therefore, it is always best to be weary of these posts. While they may have good intentions, their advice does not always encourage the right thing.

