Go Away, Infidelity

When it comes to love, there are various reasons for wanting to throw in the towel.

Although we see sensational celebrity breakups splashed all over gossip magazines and it seems like we all have a friend who has been cheated on, the UK’s 2011 matrimonial survey tells us that infidelity is not the number one relationship killer.

So what is? It’s falling out of love.

But hold on. We can’t really conclude that extramarital affairs are out of style. Even though 27 percent of couples are calling it quits due to a flickering flame, a close 25 percent of them break up because of infidelity. It’s hard to conclude that cheating has been “dethroned.”

Apparently, “what the numbers (based on information from 101 of the United Kingdom’s leading family lawyers) seem to suggest is that couples are more willing to work through a sexual tryst than try to resuscitate a loveless relationship.” Infidelity is alive and well and couples are suffering through it more than ever. Maybe, but I’m not so convinced.

It just seems more complicated. If someone asked me why I broke up with my ex, I would have my own “top 5″ reasons for the relationship’s demise. Picking the best answer out of a list of right answers could be what’s going on here.

Maybe the majority of people are just sick of ticking the “extramarital affair” box so they check off “falling out of love.” It may not mean that relationships are no longer on our priority list due to “the pressures of work, money worries or raising a family” (leading multitaskers to gradually fall out of love). For eight years, the poll revealed infidelity as the number one answer. People are sick of seeing the grim results and want to break the trend.

Still, let’s hope infidelity continues to creep down the “top 5″ list.

Contact the author here: tinybart@morningquickie.com