No, Getting Married Young Doesn't Rob You Of Your 'Fun Years'

By Aurora McCausland

We've all seen it as we scroll through our Facebook feeds: our friends, still in their early years of college, getting engaged. We roll our eyes, sometimes in disgust, and wonder how on earth they could've found the one so young. We decide that it will probably end sooner rather than later, and we scroll past.

In contrast, if you were to see a friend who had gotten a career-changing promotion at an incredibly young age, would you put them down and think that they were foolish? No, you'd congratulate them. But is there really a difference?

RELATED: 16 Things Only People Who Got Married In Their 20s Will Understand

Getting married young doesn't mean that you've been robbed of your "fun" years. You still have all of the freedoms, it just means that now you want to go drinking with your spouse, not alone. You don't want to bring strangers home to your bed, you want to bring your husband home to your bed.

Obviously, this doesn't mean giving up dating. This means date nights with the best kind of significant other possible. This doesn't mean you're giving up your independence. It means that you're choosing to be independent alongside another person.

There's no wondering who you'll bring along as your date to your weird Aunt Martha's wedding. You have a built in "plus one" for all awkward and uncomfortable social situations.

Getting married young and in your early twenties doesn't mean that you've snagged the first interested person and you're playing it safe by staying with them; it means that you were lucky enough to find the person that you want to spend the rest of your life with. When you found them doesn't really matter.

Maybe we need to stop focusing on the appropriate age to get married and focus on when we have an appropriate mindset.

RELATED: Getting Married In My 20s Was A Mistake. Don't Repeat It.

When you approach a young engaged or married couple and try to warn them, do you think they haven't already thought of the outcome of marrying young? There may be many fish in the sea, there may be other options and other experiences. But once you've found the right one, why would you keep on shopping?

There's no shame in waiting to get married until you're 57, and there's also no shame in getting married when you're 19.

It's true, we are not our mothers; we don't have to be married and pregnant by the time we're 23. We're 20-somethings! We're supposed to be enjoying our fun years. But why can't we do all those fun things and spend our fun 20-something years with our spouse? If it's the right time and the right person, then there's no reason to wait, right?​

I married young and it was the best decision of my life. I get to experience all of the wonderful parts of my 20s with my best friend by my side. I never have to worry about another awkward first date, another guy who won't text me back, or another moment of wondering how my relationship will end. Because I know that it won't.

My marriage at age 20 has no reason to be less successful than someone else who got married at age 30. Why put off the beginning of the next chapter of your story just to avoid a social stigma?

RELATED: 10 Major Perks Of Getting Married Really Young

Aurora McCausland is a 20-something with big hair, a love for Nutella, and a big mouth that can't stop talking about her husband. New Mexican raised, Utah living. Twitter addict. English and Journalism Major at UVU, with a minor in French. She's been writing since before she can remember, and never wants to stop.

This article was originally published at Read Unwritten. Reprinted with permission from the author.