Marriage is Just a Piece of Paper

Society dictates that once you finished school, you get a job. Once you have a stable job, you marry your girlfriend or boyfriend. Once you have enough savings, you make babies. Then send them to school. You retire, then you'll have grandkids. Then your grandkids will copy the cycle. Don't you find that boring? Coz I do. 

You see, people expect us to follow the norm. If you reach mid twenties and you're still single, people who are close to you would say, "Get fuckin' married! You're not getting any younger!" If you don't, then they will think there's something wrong with you. Or that you're never gonna be happy. Oh really now? Is tying the knot really gonna make me happy? 

Why is it so many married couples I know are getting annulled or divorce? Let's take a look at the current divorce rate in the United States... According to National Survey of Family Growth representatives, 50% of marriages ended up in nasty divorce. That's a big number right there. 50 freakin' percent!

Have you seen this documentary about the US billion dollar divorce industry? Watch this:

There are one million divorces in the United States every year—that's one every 36 seconds, nearly 2,400 per day, and 16,800 per week. It's hardly surprising, then, that the divorce industry is worth a whopping $50 billion annually—that's a hell of lot of heartbreak. 

After seeing that film, I realized something. Getting married is what most people want because the society and the media thinks it's the right thing to do if you think you found the "one". You tie the knot and make them your other half. My other what?! Ya know, "whatever is yours is mine, baby." Then it will always end up in heartbreak.

In 3 weeks, my older sister is getting married. All this wedding preparations happening in the house is kinda annoying me. They look so pressured looking for a catering service, photo & video service, etc. I don't need that kind of stress in my life. I don't want to spend almost a million pesos just for 1 day. I'd rather use the money to travel the world. Yeah!!! I'm gonna continue being a digital nomad ninja! :-)

2 years ago, my American cousin filed a divorced. But last week, she got engaged to her new boyfriend. This is gonna be her second marriage. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm happy if she's happy. My best friend and her boyfriend have plans getting married this September at the city hall. That's practical because all they have to do is sign a piece of paper. 

A piece of paper... That's how I describe marriage. I don't need it to prove my love for someone. My boyfriend and I share the same sentiment. We'd rather use the (supposed to be wedding) money to build passive income businesses and travel a lot. Learn different cultures, explore and do exciting adventures. We don't need to get married to do that right?! 

They say if you want to be happy, you have to follow your passion. Traveling is our passion so that's what we're gonna do together. I can't imagine doing anything else but that. We will do it as long as we live, even if we become old farts. We will travel for as long as we can. And we don't need a piece of paper for that. 

Image sources: 1 and 2