Why You Shouldn't "Let Yourself Go" After Marriage

The reasons for looking great on your wedding, however, are much deeper than just looking nice in photos, although that certainly plays a factor in why people spend so much time on their appearance. Your wedding day is, more importantly, the first step of completely giving your life to another person - mind, soul, and yes, body. The body helps convey the intentions of the mind and the soul, and as such can be used to express deep love, appreciation, and respect for your spouse.

The Value of Healthy Living

Although everyone loves to look great, being physically and emotionally healthy is about so much more than appearance. Living a healthy lifestyle enables you to pursue physical activities with your spouse, whether those involve just the two of you or a family with kids. Being physically fit enough to keep up with little ones or hike a mountain together opens up possibilities of new and exciting adventures that create lasting memories.

Being physically fit enough to keep up with little ones or hike a mountain together opens up possibilities of new and exciting adventures that create lasting memories.

In addition to being able to participate in a variety of physical activities, making a choice to keep up with a healthy diet and lifestyle has all the added benefits that we constantly hear about. Increased life spans, more energy, and overall happiness are often correlated with healthy living. These lifestyle choices can help to improve the overall quality of your life, marriage included.

Giving the Best of Yourself to Another

While there is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to look beautiful on your wedding day, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the time in your life where you look better than you ever will. Sure, you want to look your best, but your wedding is only the beginning of a life together in which you wholeheartedly commit to one another. That life is about so much more than one day, and the commitment to putting continued time and effort into yourself is a way of showing that you are continuing to strive to give the best of yourself to your spouse, even when it requires sacrifice.

The commitment to putting continued time and effort into yourself is a way of showing that you are continuing to strive to give the best of yourself to your spouse.

The act of taking care of your body is a way of showing your spouse that you are trying to give the best of yourself to them even though the wedding day is long past. Marriage is a continuing commitment, and putting in the effort of working to present only the best of your physical self to your spouse is an endeavor that shows your continuing care and commitment.

Making Each Other Better

While marriage can be both fun and challenging, at the end of the day it should be making both you and your spouse into better people. A marriage founded on respect and a willingness to sacrifice for the other molds you into better, stronger, and more selfless individuals.

Rather than using that safe space to let yourself go, marriage should help you to better yourself, even in the physical areas.

As you grow as individuals, you grow as a couple, slowly evolving into better teammates and better lovers, more willing to give to one another with each passing day. The lifetime commitment of marriage provides a uniquely safe space to challenge one another and grow in all aspects of your lives together. Rather than using that safe space to let yourself go, marriage should help you to better yourself, even in the physical areas.

Closing Thoughts

It’s not necessarily about one spouse insisting that the other look a certain way, but rather it's about choosing to continue to work towards becoming the best version of yourself in all aspects of life. Striving to give the best of yourself to the person whom you love the most requires time and effort, much more so after the wedding than before. Doing so as time progresses is a valuable investment, both for the well-being of yourself and your marriage.