Marriage isn’t about survival anymore. We don’t need it for protection, status, or security like our grandparents did. When we choose marriage now, it’s not out of need, it’s out of want. And with that freedom, our standards have gone sky-high. We don’t just want a responsible partner who protects and provides, we want someone emotionally aware, patient, supportive, funny, romantic, ambitious… basically, everything.

But modern life also makes it harder to be all that for someone else. Maybe that’s why so many of us feel like we’re looking at love through two glasses of water - seeing what we hope to see, but never quite clearly.

Are we expecting too much? Or is this just the modern standard for a lifelong partner 💍💧