Polls: Break Up & Divorce

girlfriend and I split for a couple days. Live together. Dated 2.6 years. She texted an ex about banging a bunch of guys to get back at me. Uncertain if she actually did anything, but we were technically broken up.

1. Every 42 seconds, there is one divorce in America, That equates to 86 divorces per hour, 2,046 divorces per day, 14,364 divorces per week, and 746,971 divorces per year

2. Every 16 seconds, there is a marriage in the U. S. That equates to 230 marriages per hour, 38,762 marriages per week and 2,015,603 per year.

3. There are nearly 3 divorces in the time it takes for a couple to recite their wedding vows (2 minutes).

4. More than 172 divorces occur during your typical romantic comedy movie (2 hours).

5. 430 divorces happen during the average wedding reception (5 hours).

6. There are 5,975,768 divorces over the course of an average first marriage that ends in divorce (8 years).

7. Over a 40 year period, 67 percent of first marriages terminate.

8. Among all Americans 18 years of age or older, whether they have been married or not, 25 percent have gone through a marital split.

9. 15 percent of adult women in the United States are divorced or separated today, compared with less than one percent in 1920.

10. The average first marriage that ends in divorce lasts about 8 years.

11. 60 percent of second marriages end in divorce

12.73 percent of all third marriages end in divorce

I’ve twice been in a position where I wanted to break up but my girlfriend who didn’t do anything wrong. It really was more of a “it’s not you it’s me” thing.

I did option B years ago and deeply regretted it. As twisted as it sounds I acted douchey on purpose (acting disconnected and taking her for granted). Truth is I deeply loved her as a person but I wanted to make it easier for her to move on. I could of dropped the axe earlier but instead I drove her into breaking up with me. Noble intentions or not above B actually ended horribly (complicated). I thought we had a mutual respect/understanding at the end. But she looked at me like I was less than human later.

So years later when I was in the exact same position again I choose option A. My then girlfriend went nuclear and threatened to seriously kill herself. In a way she proved my deep down suspicions that getting serious with her was a bad idea. Her reaction made me feel like I made the right decision. I got over that one much more quickly. But I also got to deal with some guilt that I did at one point get her hopes up.

I feel like break ups are a zero sum game.