Living Together VS. Not Living Together

I'm the type of person that sees living together as a sort of "test" towards the relationship. Frankly, if you can't live with them, then why get married? It definitely tests your boundaries - which can be a good or bad thing. Some people however, think that living together before marriage is wrong. Most of these people have either come from a religious background or are religious themselves. Or, they feel that they don't need to take the next step in the relationship, like marriage - since they're already living together.

Which then leads me to ask, why live together if you can't see yourself wanting to be married to that person? I see it as a scapegoat. Yes, marriage can be scary -- but it's about the unity of two people's love for each other, who want to spend the rest of their lives together. What's so scary about that?

Nowadays, marriage is looked upon as something bad - because of the horrible divorce rate. If people actually took the time to get to know someone, before instantly hooking up and proposing in only months, then I think things would be a whole lot better in today's world.

I also don't believe in love at first site. In fact, I see it as a sign of desperation of wanting to be loved so badly -- you'll take anything to have it. I just don't get how someone could "know" that this is the one person they want to spend the rest of their days with upon first glance. It's bullshit known as a crush. I'd expect people in middle school or high school to think like that, since they don't know what real love is, but not full grown adults in their 30s or 40s.

So, if you're living with someone whom you've been with for many years -- why don't you seriously think about the direction you want to take in your relationship. If you can't see yourself marrying him/her -- then why prolong things further and just end it. Or get the balls/ovaries and ask your significant other to marry you.