6 Sure Signs Your Marriage Will End In Divorce

It takes a lot of consistent effort and continuous work to make a marriage work. Think of it as something akin to growing a garden in your backyard. You have to till the soil, prune the leaves, pull out the weeds consistently for the flowers to emerge. Your marriage is no different.

The moment you become lax or start taking things for granted, cracks begin to take hold. If left unattended, these cracks can be your marriage’s undoing. Losing a once loving relationship because you ignored the signs of divorce will result in one of the most painful experiences anyone can have in their life.

# A possible warning sign your marriage is over: Change in affection levels

According to research carried out at the University of Texas, too much affection at the beginning of a marriage can be a harbinger of distress and differences later on. If the expressions of love and affection peak during the first year or two of the marriage, it can be hard to sustain them in the long run. As the level of affection declines, it hampers the stability of the bond between a couple, putting them at risk of divorce.

This is one of the key indicators that your marriage will end in divorce, according to science. Instead of showering your spouse with all your love right in the beginning, you must commit to sustaining healthy communication and being invested in each other throughout.

# Being riddled with suspicion

Out of all the 15 signs your marriage will end in divorce, this may be the most heartbreaking to witness. Let’s say you plan a romantic surprise for your spouse, and they react with, “What have you done now?” Or your spouse offers to do the dishes after dinner, and instead of appreciating them for their thoughtfulness, you say, “Don’t think you can trick me into making love to you by doing this.”

Such instinctive displays of suspicion are indicative of underlying trust issues in a marriage. These reactions may be triggered by certain past experiences. Nonetheless, it points to a weak foundation, which qualifies as one of the warning signs of divorce or perhaps even that the marriage is over already.

# Unaligned expectations

If you and your spouse entered into marriage with mismatched or unaligned expectations, it can prove to be a recipe for disaster. For instance, one of you expects that you’d do everything together now that you’re married, but the other values personal space and alone time. This small difference in expectations can become the reason for divorce within one year of marriage or even years later.

One of the stages of a dying marriage includes not being able to communicate your needs and expectations, but still expecting your partner to fulfill them somehow. All that does is causes resentment and animosity shortly.

# Making jokes at each other’s expense

It’s completely okay to pull your spouse’s leg or crack a joke about their quirks or habits once in a while. But if it becomes a pattern for one partner to constantly make jokes at the other’s expense, it can spell doom for your marital bond in the long run and might even signify that the end of a marriage is near.

Every time your spouse makes light of your flaws or faults, it’ll cause you to resent them a little. You may even resort to doing the same to give them a taste of their medicine. Do this dance long enough and a passive-aggressive dynamic takes hold in the relationship. This resentment and passive-aggressiveness can threaten the future of your marriage.

# A widening communication gap

Poor communication is undoubtedly one of the top reasons for divorce. When you’re living together, day after day, for years on end, making the effort and time to facilitate healthy communication might take a back seat. This is what causes couples to “grow apart.”

And if you’re currently separated, minimal effort from both sides to communicate with each other is a clear sign the separation will end in divorce. You cannot read your spouse’s mind and they can’t yours.

So, take the time to talk about everything from bills to chores, feelings, accomplishments, failures, fears, and vulnerabilities. In absence of it, you’re bound to become out of sync with each other, which ultimately takes a toll on your marriage.

# You stop exploring each other

When you have been married for years, it is natural to assume that you know your partner inside out. It may even be true to a large extent. However, people continue to change and evolve, and you can’t claim to know anyone – including your spouse and children – 100%.

Once you stop making an effort to learn new things or explore new sides of each other, the spark and love begin to die down. It’s near impossible for a marriage to survive in the absence of these two things. You don’t want to find yourself one day noticing your spouse dancing to music s/he never listened to before, eating something you’ve never seen them eat.