I am recently divorced and got married at 22. The difference is my husband was much older, and very controlling (although that didn't start until after we married). I was a dove that got swallowed by a snake.
erplexed I didn't have a lot of relationship experience, my parents sheltered me a lot, so I wasn't able to recognize the warning signs. Looking back 12 years later, the warning signs were there - I just wasn't savvy enough to recognize them at the time.
Still, I know of couples who marry young and are happy and successful many years later. It's a case by case situation. I will say that it has taken me 4+ years to finish my MBA because of circumstances and obstacles tied to being married (and getting a divorce). I really lost myself for several years. I initially had such drive and ambition, but it got sucked up in the early years of the marriage. Once I figured out who I was (independent of anyone else) and what I truly wanted to do, that was the final nail in the coffin of our marriage (although there are many MANY other reasons which contributed to my decision to leave - I prayed, went through joint and independent counseling, and contemplated for YEARS). I think my ambition was threatening to him, and I can't be with someone who wants to hold me down.
I have and continue to learn a lot from this. My main piece of advice is that
it really takes two whole and healthy people to enter a marriage, and to be prayerful before entering into such a sacred and life-changing covenant. No one can make you happy, happiness is internal and comes from God. (I'm sure we all know that person who seems to have everything but is STILL never satisfied).
Come to think of it, one of the sweetest couples (and families) I know got married young, either in or right out of college. They say that marrying young allowed them to grow together. I promise their whole family is sweet as sugar.
So just because it didn't work out in my situation doesn't mean that marrying young can't turn out wonderfully.
