All married couples go through a rough patch.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been together before you got married, a rough patch is something that happens to even the best couples. One road that these couples don’t want to go down most of the time, is divorce.

Unfortunately, for some issues, divorce is the only option that seems like the right thing to do. No one goes into a marriage believing that it will end. Not one person looks at the man they are marrying down the aisle and thinks that it will be anything other than perfect.

The unfortunate thing is that life tends to get in the way and if you’re not careful, you could find yourself walking down the corridor to speak to an attorney from The Vendt Law Firm. Relationships don’t last forever, unless you choose to work hard on them. People don’t just fall to pieces; they make conscious choices in their marriages.

Divorce is hard on anyone involved in it, particularly if there are children to consider. And if you are going through being served papers and having to change your world, you’re going to have to learn to take the high road. Being adult enough to fuse your life to someone else’s, both figuratively and legally, means that you are adult enough to hold a conversation in a calm and mature way. That’s the ideal, anyway, because divorce is an emotional time and it isn’t easy to always have a mature and calm conversation when you’re walking away from someone that you thought you would always love.

So, if you’re the one leaving the marriage behind, how do you take the high road? Here are a few tips to do so:

#1: Communication

The most important thing about a marriage is communication and it’s even more important before you go through a divorce. You must give your spouse a chance to air every issue onto the table with you before you decide to end the marriage. If you’re both unhappy, it will never be fixed unless you talk to each other. You chose to get married; you owe each other a conversation at the very least.

#2: Therapy

If you can’t talk to each other, talk to someone else. Couples therapy is a thing for a reason and having someone impartial to discuss issues with can help you both see things from a different perspective. Sometimes, this perspective is what you need to work things out.

#3: Grounding

Being able to stay grounded in an emotional time is hard. However, it’s vital that you remember that while you’re ending your marriage right now, you loved that person once. This means you can still have respect for that love and treat them decently as you go through the process. Be respectful of each other, particularly if there are children around who can hear your interactions.

Divorce? Not an easy topic to talk about. If this is your last resort, take the high road and make sure that you can keep the bridges together without burning them.