{"id":14565,"date":"2014-10-28T09:05:37","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T01:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/?p=14565"},"modified":"2021-05-06T16:30:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T08:30:23","slug":"married-and-loving-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/2014\/10\/married-and-loving-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Married And Loving It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>Can a married man truly be a happy one? Fu Jinming attempts to douse your cynicism with his musings about being happily unavailable.<\/i><\/p><p><b class=\"special\">C<\/b>hinese-American comedian Joe Wong summed it best when he recalled how scared he once was of being married, because \u201c\u2026 Wow, 50% of all marriages end up lasting forever!\u201d<\/p><div class=\"banner\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">OA_show(5);<\/script><\/div><p>That always drew laughs from the guys. Funnily, the ladies too. And who could blame them? Popular culture has reduced the married man to a bumbling, long-suffering loser, always under the thumb of the overbearing wife, and pining for his single and carefree days. He\u2019s the guy who\u2019s out of the hunt and worse for it. A comedy of errors who\u2019ve just made the biggest mistake of his life. Because which sane guy would voluntarily commit himself to a lifetime of domesticity, subservience, and (gasp), monogamy?<\/p><p>Well, I would. And I did.<\/p><p>To be sure, I didn\u2019t always feel this way. I was one of the boys, convinced that a ring on my finger was a noose around my neck. I\u2019ve seen friends who got hitched and promptly went off-grid, like a plane in the Bermuda Triangle. They seemed shackled to an invisible force, unable to live the life they want, the way they want.<\/p><p>Then I went and got myself married. Bad move, you say. A year on though, I feel it\u2019s the best one I\u2019ve ever made.<\/p><p>Because it\u2019s true what they say: marriage isn\u2019t just the coming together of two people. It\u2019s the coming together of two lives. And as clich\u00e9d as it sounds, two really is better than one.<\/p><p>To give you a fuller picture, I\u2019ve compiled a list of seven things I\u2019ve enjoyed about marriage. I\u2019ve sidestepped the obvious ones \u2013 like regular sex \u2013 and honed in on the less apparent ones \u2013 like time off from your parents \u2013 to show you the little things that made me a happier, better, and very married man.<\/p><p><b><b>1. The Dual Income<\/b><\/b><\/p><p>First, there\u2019s the practical stuff. When it comes to money, two streams of income are infinitely better than one. Being married means there is now someone to share the bills and major expenses with. Particularly useful when time comes to renovate your home, or to purchase your furnishings, or to pay the mortgage.<\/p><p>You\u2019re probably thinking: but aren\u2019t women expensive with their handbags and shoes and endless shopping? Trust me, these will quickly be eclipsed by the prospect of having an extra wallet for a better home, a better vacation, and possibly a better car.<\/p><p>I\u2019m not saying financial woes will be a thing of the past, I\u2019m saying you won\u2019t be facing them alone. And that you\u2019ll be a lot happier looking at your bank account.<\/p><p><b><b>2. A Longer Life<\/b><\/b><\/p><p>A healthy, married life could mean a longer one as well. There\u2019s been recent research in the US that claims married men are less prone to heart disease, depression and strokes than single ones. Science, apparently, has discovered lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) \u2013 a biological marker of inflammation and other nasty things \u2013 in married men. Other studies have shown that single men are five times likelier to die of infectious diseases, and twice as likely to die accidentally.Some went as far as to suggest that marriage is even better than giving up smoking.<\/p><p>So there you have it: your wife will hardly be the death of you. She\u2019s the reason you\u2019re still breathing!<\/p><p><b><b>3. To Extreme Comfort<\/b><\/b><\/p><p>The great thing about being married is that you get to be in the same room with someone you\u2019re comfortable with. Very comfortable. So comfortable, you can rant and rave to her about your work or your co-workers and have her (mostly) on your side. Or wearing whatever you like for bed without her even batting an eyelid. Or passing the occasional, ahem, wind right in front of her, and not feel embarrassed at all.<\/p><p>All in all, marriage puts you both in the same comfort zone, where you get to be the person you really are \u2013 warts, flaws, farts and all.<\/p><p><b><b>4. So Long, Folks<\/b><\/b><\/p><p>If you\u2019re an Asian man who\u2019s had to share a home with his parents for pretty much his whole life, this will probably come as happy news to you. For getting married gives you the cultural license to move out. Not just out of your parents\u2019 roof, but out of their incessant (albeit well-intentioned) naggings, constant disregard for your privacy and general lack of personal space. It\u2019s a chance for you to leave the nest and grow into your own man. Because as long as you\u2019re under their roof, you\u2019ll always be their little boy, and forever be treated like one.<\/p><p>That\u2019s not to say they\u2019ll magically treat you like the adult you think you are once you\u2019re out of the house. But at least you\u2019ll gain some space. Besides, moving out usually does wonders for your relationship with your folks. It could be that absence makes the parental heart fonder. Or that they wanted you out in the first place!<\/p><p><b><b>5. A Convenient Excuse<\/b><\/b><\/p><p>Remember when you were at a party you wish you weren\u2019t? Well, being married is a great excuse to skip a social event you don\u2019t feel up for. Received an email invite for after-work drinks with colleagues you don\u2019t like? Sorry, got to rush for dinner with the wife and her folks. Buddies asking to watch a late-night show you know you\u2019ll hate? Dang, it\u2019s date night with the missus. Sure, it\u2019ll make you look like an emasculated loser. But it\u2019ll emancipate you from small talk, fake smiles, and all kinds of social boredom.<\/p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"http:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Gifts-HiRes-small.jpg\" alt=\"Married and Loving It\" \/><p><b><b>6. Gifts &amp; Surprises<\/b><\/b><\/p><p>For a guy who grew up in a frugal household, presents were a rare and precious thing. Which is why marriage rocks if you have the fortune of marrying a woman who believes in buying gifts for the man she loves, just to show she does. Like mine did when she felt I was getting too stressed out from work (I wasn\u2019t), and that a spa massage was just what I needed (it was). And then there\u2019s the birthday gift, anniversary surprise, Christmas present, and \u2018just because-s\u2019. Talk about a rewarding marriage.<\/p><p><b><b>7. Marriage Makes You A Better Man<\/b><\/b><\/p><p>And the thing I love most about being hitched? It makes me the man I want to be. Marrying a strong, opinionated and funny girl brought out the best in me. Every laughter we\u2019ve shared, every argument we\u2019ve had, and every compromise we\u2019ve had to make forced me to grow as a man and as a human being. Patience, wisdom and maturity come a little easier now. As does a clearer perspective on the things that matter, and the ones that don\u2019t. I\u2019ve gone from being a man-child, to a man-child with a clearer head, and a surer heart.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can a married man truly be a happy one? Fu Jinming attempts to douse your cynicism with his musings about being happily unavailable.Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong summed it best when&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":14567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2341,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships","category-the-groom-room"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Married And Loving It - SingaporeBrides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/2014\/10\/married-and-loving-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Married And Loving It - SingaporeBrides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can a married man truly be a happy one? 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