6 Unhealthy Habits You Need to Kick Before the Wedding Day

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Everyone has an unhealthy habit of some kind. Maybe you consistently overeat or are an unrepentant couch potato who is allergic to exercise. Perhaps you stay up too late or chew your nails. You might put too much salt on your food or slather everything you can find with butter. There are all sorts of unhealthy habits to choose from, but some are more damaging than others.

Most people know to avoid marrying someone who is still struggling with serious issues such as drug addiction or alcoholism. As such, it is actually the little habits that tend to wreck marriages. People think that they are prepared to deal with certain things only to find out that they cannot handle it. Some people try to fix such issues after they have gone and tied the knot, but it may already be too late. Habits are difficult to break, and no one wants their spouse grouching at them the entire time they are trying to cease troublesome behaviors. All it will do is drive both spouses up the wall. One person will be wondering why it is so hard for the other to stop. The other person will be annoyed because they are trying to break the habit. What more does their spouse want? As such, it is best to go into a marriage having already broken the habits that are most likely to cause you trouble. Here are six unhealthy habits you need to kick before the wedding day.

Not-So Sleeping Beauty

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No one likes to be kept awake when they need or want to sleep. When you are single and living alone, you can technically do whatever you like with regards to sleeping. If you want to turn the air conditioning as low as it will go and huddle under a pile of blankets, you can. If you want to sleep sprawled across the entire bed like a drunken starfish, there is no one to stop you. If you want to go to bed when the sun is starting to peak over the horizon or wake up well before the birds are stirring, you are not hurting anyone but yourself. When you are married, however, your sleeping habits impact your spouse. Even if you two decide to sleep in separate rooms, your poor sleep habits might still keep your partner awake. Before you get married, break any bad sleeping habits and start sleeping on a consistent schedule.

Little White Lies

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Everyone in the world is technically a liar. It is not a label that anyone particularly enjoys wearing or one that most people would admit to deserving, but it is still true. Think about it. The odds are that you lie all the time about minor things. If you tell someone it is a pleasure to meet them when all you want to do is smack that smug look off their face, you are lying. If you tell a coworker you are fine when you are avoiding a complete meltdown by a hair’s breadth, you are lying. If you tell your aunt that you loved her Christmas gift when you actually hate it, you are lying. If you tell your friend that you did not see their text message when you simply did not want to go to the party, you are lying.

You need to break your lying habit before you get married. You can get away with pretending to love the hideous sweater that you grandmother knitted for you, but when you are dealing with your spouse, you have to be honest. Nothing will destroy a relationship faster than lost trust, and you only need to get caught in a lie once for your spouse’s trust in you to evaporate.

Cell Phone’s Siren Song

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When you marry someone, you assume that they will be more present in your life than simply existing in the same space as you. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of that in today’s world. Too many people are constantly consumed by the siren song of their smartphones. They never go anywhere without their phone, and that applies to more than simply refusing to go to the grocery store without a cell phone. Some people cannot bring themselves to leave their phone in the other room while they go to the bathroom. If you have reached this level of obsession, you may actually have developed a smartphone addiction, and you need to break it as soon as you can.

If you have not yet reached the level of “phone addict,” you may still need to check how often and when you are using your phone. If you tend to scroll through Facebook while you are on a date or text while someone is talking to you, you need to break that habit fast. You are marrying your spouse, not your phone. That means your spouse needs to be your first priority, not playing second fiddle to your smartphone.

Binge Buying

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When you are single, there is nothing to stop you from enjoying a bit of retail therapy. Once you have tied the knot, however, you have to be more aware of your finances. This means that you cannot simply go out and spontaneously decide to go binge buying. It is more important than ever to be responsible with your money. The odds are good that you and your spouse are using a joint bank account, therefore, you are not just spending your own money anymore. You are spending your spouse’s as well.

For married couples, finances can quickly become a serious problem if one person in the relationship is not a responsible spender. You do not need to become a spendthrift, but you have to think of your spouse before you go out binge shopping. You are not the only one affected by your decisions.

People Projects

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No one is perfect. This means that, no matter what, there will always be something about your spouse that annoys you or bothers you. That is simply life. No one and nothing is completely perfect. That said, when you decide that you are going to marry someone, you need to make sure that you are happy to marry the person that they currently are not some idealized version of what they could be one day. Your spouse is your partner, your equal in all things. They are not a project for you. Your job is to love and support them and help them grow. You are not there to fix them. You are not married to them so that you can perfect them. If you have a tendency to try and change your friends for their own good, you need to break that habit before you get married. Otherwise, you are looking at a painful, drama filled marriage otherwise, and might well cut the marriage very short.

Dirty Fighter

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Did you know that there are technically rules for war? There have been for thousands of years. They vary across cultures, but warfare did technically have rules and laws. The same is true for arguments in a marriage. There are things that are acceptable when you two are fighting, and there are things that you should never do when arguing with your spouse.

When you are arguing with your spouse, you need to make sure you are fighting with the kid gloves on. Your spouse has trusted you with their vulnerabilities, and you need to make sure you do not exploit them. Yes, you probably know exactly what to say in order to crush your spouse’s heart or make them so angry that they cannot even finish the argument. No matter how angry you are, resist the urge to hit your spouse where it hurts. It can be tempting to do this, especially for people who hate to lose, but if you want your spouse to stick around, when you fight, you better not fight dirty.