6 married women share why first year of marriage was the toughest phase of their relationship

You must have heard this from a lot of couples that their first year of marriage was the most difficult. But to many others, this may sound like a very puzzling statement. They should consider themselves lucky - as several studies have shown that first year is the most difficult and many couples head for splitsville in the first 365 days itself. We asked 6 married women to share their thoughts on the first year of marriage. This is what they have to say:

"Before marriage, my husband and I were in a dating phase. We went on dates and spent a lot of time pleasing each other. But it all changed once we both got married. There were no more "dates", which made my first year of marriage way too difficult. He stopped making the special effort to make me feel special - out of the 365 days, we must have spent 300 days in his parent's company. Now when I look back at that time, I wish I made my husband understand how we should have continued to go on dates to keep the newly married relationship easy."

"It's natural to expect from your lover but the expectations sometimes grow manifold when the lover turns into a husband. And it was not one sided, he did too. Everything from handing household duties to paying bills, we relied on each other even more. When we were in the dating phase, none of this mattered. And so, getting all these little and big responsibilities and dealing with more expectations only made it tough for my first year of marriage."

"For me, it had always been difficult to take care of my own self, considering how clumsy and careless I can get sometimes. But after my husband and I tied the knot, it gave me a reality check that now I don't only have to look after myself but for him as well. And on some occasions, his family stayed with us too, which meant more people to take care of. I don't think I was ready for this in my first year of marriage!"

"My partner and I both knew our families had a different school of thoughts and bringing them together was only going to be challenging. We got to learn how to take this responsibility in our first year of marriage. Bringing both our families together was a task which impacted our marriage too in our first year. However, now when I look back at that time I also realise that how we stood strong next to each other, which made our relationship stronger."

"When my husband and I were dating, it was easier to avoid talking about tough topics where we didn't agree with each other. But once we tied the knot, our disagreements only kept increasing and there was no room left to avoid these tough topics. We learned the hard way how to make peace with each other's perspectives and deal with tough topics too. This consumed most of my first year of marriage."

"Marriage looks like a cakewalk from the outside, but it definitely isn't so when you actually get a first-hand experience. My husband and I have very different thoughts about spending and saving our finances. And we kept on clashing owing to our financial decisions."