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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that most married couples settle?

244 replies

RedSetterBlues · 07/05/2019 22:13

Not actually my AIBU but more my male best friend’s. He believes that most married couples have settled for each other. I’m clearly a romantic fool who still believes in true love. Who is BU? Do most couples settle for each other?

OP posts:
SignedUpJust4This · 08/05/2019 08:27

I think you may be right Tommee. DH & I met young and grew up together so have very similar attitudes to everything. We've also been through a lot of crap before we had kids so we knew the worst of each other and learned how to be strong. I always knew he was a safe bet as a father. Its not exactly 'work' to keep the spark alive but we do have to make a conscious effort to really look at each other and remember who we were before kids etc.

I think some people think you should be madly in love and turned on by your husband every day but the reality is most days you take each other for granted and act like colleagues/housemates. Still love each other though.

diddl · 08/05/2019 08:36

Perhaps can be an element of settling in that you might marry the one you're with at the time that you're ready to marry.

BossAssBitch · 08/05/2019 08:37

Ansolutely not. My DH is amazing, the best man I have ever met. I feel very lucky to have married him and I know he feels the same. When I think about him it makes me smile.

I was engaged twice before we got married, but walked away from both of those relationships before making wedding plans. I have always been a bit of a commitment phobe, but I just knew DH was The One. I fancy the pants off him and love being with him more than anyone else in the world.

Iamheretoday · 08/05/2019 09:04

Imagine your best female friend; could there be other women you click with more? Kinder women? Richer women? Less lazy women? My point is, there will always be other people who could potentially be better but you love and care for your best friend, accept their flaws and support each other mutually. You share experiences together and build a friendship.
For a lot of people, spouses are like this. They might not be perfect but they get on well, love each other; it may not be the most passionate love but they care for each other and it makes life easier. I don't really think it is settling, I think it is building a life together and a secure base for your children.

Justbreathing · 08/05/2019 09:06

But I don’t think that’s settling either lame!
Loving someone is settling.
Being with someone you don’t really love is settling

Lonecatwithkitten · 08/05/2019 09:10

First time round I was in love, but I think he settled for me. We also got engaged immediately post 9/11.
He then meet someone else I don't think she has been his great love, but he choose her. So we divorced.
I then meet my DP he truly is the love of my life and whole different level of love.
DP meet and married his first wife young ( they were 18 when they bought their first flat) she sadly died of cancer. He adored her and I am lucky enough to say he adores me, but in a different way. He is one of the people who had a great love and then a terrible loss and then found a second great love.

BlackPrism · 08/05/2019 09:13

I'm not married yet, but certainly haven't settled. If I didn't love the boots off of him I'd leave him.

BlackPrism · 08/05/2019 09:15

And the circs of people getting together doesn't mean they're not in love. I met DP trying to set him up with someone else! Seems I did too good a job of shouting his praises 😂

LonelyTiredandLow · 08/05/2019 09:22

Yes, settling would mean staying together with no love, nothing in common, difference of perhaps intelligence or politics - I know a few people who only found out once they were pg that the husband wanted the kids to go to church regularly - having not been for years themselves. Another lady I know is left leaning but married a now Ukip voter and is miserable because she can see certain things she never saw before coming out. I think a lot of people see what they want to see in the early years, ignoring the bad under the idea that "not everything is perfect" without prioritising those bad points with an eye on the future.

Iamheretoday · 08/05/2019 09:37

LonelyTiredandLow Yes that is true, shows you should pay attention to your gut instinct early on.

woodcutbirds · 08/05/2019 09:38

@AnchorDownDeepBreath
would you mind being settled for?
Good question - yes I would, very much. What I'm getting at is that I think a lot of married couple who are very happy and have strong marriages haven;t settled but they have learned compromise, and they have matured enough to realise that neither they nor their partners are or ever will be'perfect' or even 'perfect for each other'.

I did wait a long time to meet the man I wanted to meet, and I was looking for some things on which I couldn't compromise. I also had some stupidly specific 'ideals' in mind that DH happened to fit (a specific accent, for example!) But DH is very far from 'perfect', as am I. I could easily choose to be very unhappy that he's so introverted whereas I love going out and being sociable. I could choose to be frustrated that he's quite physically timid so we'll never go rock climbing or diving together for example - I'd like a bit more adventure. But at root, he is the cleverest, kindest, funniest man I've ever met and intelligence, kindness and humour are my core values. So I'd be a fool if I'd headed off on an endless quest for a man with that gorgeous voice, that wit, brilliance and heart but who also jumped out of bed and said, 'Let's go snorkelling today!' Because he might not exist. I have several lovely friends who are single in their fifties, having never married, and I think they have always keep looking instead of appreciating the person under their nose and developing what they have into the best version of what it can be, which is an adventure in itself.

Sweetbabycheezits · 08/05/2019 09:42

If I had married any of the guys I dated before DH, then i would agree that I'd settled. Fortunately, I kind of knew that, and DH was worth waiting for. I am still besotted with him 16 years and 2 kids later, and he feels the same. Is every day a passionate adventure? No, but there's no one else I'd rather slob out in an evening with!

meow1989 · 08/05/2019 09:46

I didnt. I married my first (and only) love. We met when I was 16 and he was 19 and have been together 13 years. I suppose we kind of grew up into adults together. We've done the early on crazy excitement (and with it the stupid teenage rows) and now we're still best friends who miss each other when one is away for a day and laugh every day. Any bickering (because no relationship is perfect and I think its unhealthy to get on 100% all the time) is short lived and without the fear of "this is it" because we know we have each found our person.

RaptorWhiskers · 08/05/2019 09:46

settling would mean staying together with no love
In some cases that’s preferable to being alone with no love, if it also gives you other things like a home and children. Surely it’s better to have 2/3 than 0/3?

Of course, once you’ve settled it’s difficult to leave. Assuming your partner is decent and hasn’t cheated or done anything wrong, it’s difficult to leave your home and separate dad from kids just because of a vague feeling of Not Being In Love. Especially if you’ll continue to be Not In Love even if you leave, because you haven’t exactly got a queue of suitors lined up.

AryaStarkWolf · 08/05/2019 09:50

I didn't, I would never have gotten married if I wasn't as sure as I could be that he was the one I wanted to spend my life with. Not being married would not have bothered me that much anyway so i definitely wouldn't have just married someone for the sake of it

LonelyTiredandLow · 08/05/2019 09:53

Raptor - to a degree, yes. However you aren't ever going to find Love if you are Settled. Depends on a lot of aspects sure, but some people find that after having kids and the home they want more and are willing to take the risk. It is a risk but staying for the sake of it can be very damaging to everyone.

LonelyTiredandLow · 08/05/2019 09:54

*proviso to previous comment is of course if you won't cheat or look for love whilst with someone you are Settled with.

BarbedBloom · 08/05/2019 09:56

I did in my first marriage as I had been with him for 8 years and it seemed the logical step. He turned out to be awful anyway. This time I have definitely not, years on he is still my favourite person

Alsohuman · 08/05/2019 09:58

I don’t buy The One or that a relationship can remain in the initial passionate, highly charged emotional state for ever. We’ve been together for 21 years, our relationship has gone through many changes in that time. Fundamental to it is the love which has increased every day. I can honestly that I love him far more now than the day we married even if the days of ripping his clothes off are a dim and distant memory!

UnderTheSeaWithMe · 08/05/2019 10:11

Are you married Op? I'm sceptical of your friend's motives. Is he hoping to have a fling with you? Whether he believes he settled or not, he is already màking excuses for not leaving his wife and family if it happens. I would thread carefully.

FigaroSiFigaroLa · 08/05/2019 10:21

[Being the one in love] is better than being the one who settled. Always feeling there’s something missing and you’re missing out. Avoiding intimacy and feeling isolated. It must be lovely to be married to someone you love and find attractive, even if they don’t feel the same about you. Especially if you don’t know that they settled and you think you’re both in love.

I categorically disagree with the above. It is so much better when your partner is putting the effort in and looking after you. Makes you appreciate him, appreciate what you have got and want to give the same back.

I have been with guys who I was absolutely madly in love with and they weren’t half bothered. It is soul destroying. I can’t start to describe the heart ache, the jealousy, the insecurity. How is that a good base for marriage?

When a man shows you he is invested and prepared to put the work in, it is the best feeling in the world. When he lets you have a lie in, scrubs the floors and cooks your dinner to make your life easier. You can’t but feel the love and care back.

The passionate, but destructive ‘one true love’ relationships I have had, I thank my lucky stars every day I didn’t get married to those men. They would have made my life a misery.

I don’t get the concept of settling. There is ALWAYS someone better for you out there, doesn’t mean you have to drop everything, put your life on hold, waiting to meet them. You may never meet them. Or meet them when it is too late to have children. It is such a high-risk strategy.

Not to say that the dream man may turn out to be an arsehole at closer inspection a few years later down the line. ‘True love’ on your part is no safeguard against that.

ApplePieIsAmazing · 08/05/2019 10:24

Nope my DH is still my favourite person in the world, I trust him with my life!

wheresmymojo · 08/05/2019 10:30

I wouldn't say I've settled but I would say my priorities changed.

When I was younger my priorities were how I felt about the person irrespective of whether they were good for me or whether I would actually have a good life with them. The person I consider closest to being my 'soulmate' is selfish, a workaholic and has never been faithful to any of his partners.

My DH isn't my soulmate but he's a much better fit for me and a much better person. I have a much nicer life with him and love him.

Is that 'settling'? I think some people would say so but I think it's just good decision making...

JacquesHammer · 08/05/2019 10:33

However you aren't ever going to find Love if you are Settled

For some people that’s not important though. Children yes very probably. A home? Important to some people. I guess if you’re settled it doesn’t need to make you unhappy?

wheresmymojo · 08/05/2019 10:36

Interestingly my DM isn't one for dishing out advice but the one thing she said to me was 'Just make sure you marry someone who loves you a little bit more than you love them'.

I still don't know how I feel about that but I think it's probably where I am in my marriage. I do mean 'a little bit' though....it's marginal.