Tyler J. Brooks

Below is an introduction to my newest blog series I’ve been working on that I’m launching this week and hope you will find insightful and helpful in your own marriage.

My vision for this series is to share several truths about marriage that I have learned from my own experience as well as that of others. Our society has conditioned us to believe many things about marriage and relationships that simply are not true. On one end of the spectrum, there are the fairy tale romances of the silver screen that present marriage vaguely and often only as the culmination of a dramatic love story;
rarely do romantic comedies portray some of the harsh realities of life after the wedding day. In stark contrast to these whitewashed fairy-tale romances, much of the mainstream media and some of the entertainment industry present marriage as an antiquated practice that is not only unnecessary, but usually doomed to failure. This meta-narrative tells the story that marriage is where real romance goes to die; getting married has a way of ruining good relationships by putting undue stress and expectations on each partner thereby leading to relational self-destruction. Marriage is portrayed as a boring, unnecessary rite devoid of excitement, adventure, and passion. Many people these days seem to be more affected by the negative stereotypes of marriage than the positive, though often unrealistic, ones. Of course people are most deeply affected by their own experiences over and against popular culture or sound research, therefore, those whose parents have experienced bad marriages, divorce, or even a complete lack of marital commitment are far more likely to devalue marriage.

My aim here is to presuppose an alternative view of marriage that balances the realities of relationships with the tremendous personal and societal benefits of healthy marriages. With all the negative verbiage being circulated throughout our society about marriage, along with the increasing rates of divorce and cohabitation, its important for  you to know that there are still many happily married couples out there enjoying vibrant and fulfilling marriages that last. I know this is true, because I am in one of them.

Wherever you may be at this point in your life–happily or unhappily married, engaged, separated, dating, or single and thinking about marriage–I hope to share some insight over the course of a few posts that will at very least help you sort through some of the assumptions, confusing messages, or outright lies that are stuck in your head and heart.

I will be publishing posts that cover one to three truths each, trying to keep each brief and easy to digest and remember. I don’t have a set number of posts that will be written in this series and they most likely will not be in a particular order. I will try to present each post in a way that you will find value in reading it by itself, though I hope you will read several. Once again, I may add to this series as I feel necessary and any comments or suggestions for new truths are always welcome and appreciated.