Relationship blog: When is enough, enough?
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Instant gratification. Dating in a world where everything is right at your fingertips. Even the term dating is … outdated.
We’ve been programmed to always want the newer model, trading in, upgrading any time we can. Girls in their twenties are working more toward boob jobs than bachelor’s degrees. Why do we all feel like we need to look like the next Victoria Secret model?
While men are quickly being surrounded by silicone, I’m quickly being surrounded by receding hairlines. If I’m being judged by my bra size, why is it OK with me if he doesn’t have a full head of hair?
Being a “playa” isn’t just for Biggie and P Diddy anymore. It’s the status quo. Most boys just like to play games. Board games, video games, athletic games. They even like to play house on occasion, play respectful gentlemen for a night or two, or even play “vacationship” for a few days.
But that’s it. They play it, and then they get bored and they need to play something else.
Sure, some of them put in more work than others, opening doors, taking you to dinner, showering you with compliments and those wonderful empty promises. But just like the inevitable need for the latest Xbox, or that Nintendo Wii I hear guys talk about more than Jessica Alba in a swimsuit, soon enough there will be an inevitable need for a new girl to play with.
And I know boys aren’t the only ones suffering from this Instant Gratification Plague.
How can anyone ever keep up? How do couples begin their relationship without that dark gray cloud of “other possibilities” constantly hovering above them?
I saw a sign in a home goods store that read, “And they lived happily ever after.” Just walking past it gave me chills. Who in this world has the unreasonable optimism to put that up in their house? The same house where one day you might come home, after several years and endless fights, to find out that the two of you aren’t in love anymore. Or that maybe you never were.
We’ve all been raised on those classic Disney fairytales, but if you look at the divorce rate, we’re obviously not living them.
The obsession to have everything has left us with an inability to focus on any one thing. Isn’t it fair to say this attention deficit has carried over to our relationships as well?
What do you do when your desire to achieve everything leaves you with no desire for what you already have? And can you ever have a future with someone who is constantly consumed by a craving of excessive achievement, which will always lead to a feeling of under-satisfaction?
And in this world of instant gratification, surely the perpetual power struggles of tallying up each other’s gives and takes will eventually become too tiring. Isn’t this supposed to be easy? But for how many people was it actually easy?
That line from the movie “The Mexican” always pops up in my mind, “When two people really love each other, when is enough, enough?”
In today’s world, I think enough is enough the minute things get tough. There is always a newer, more exciting, and easier version that will hit the market. We’re just not in it for “to have and to hold, till death due us part.”
I’m ready to hear you all prove this retired, hopeless romantic wrong.
Chrissy Ramoneda, staff writer