Single or Married

Being single I often get a lot of advice from all sorts of people to help me navigate my single life while seeking for a married existence.  One of the bits of advice they give me fairly often is to not think that marriage will make me happy.  They will then proceed to tell me about all the challenges that have plagued their marriage experience and how hard it's been.  Funny enough, these same people when asked if they would like to return to single life they respond QUICKLY in the negative.  Single people will tell me to enjoy the single life as there is nothing tying me down and I don't have to answer to anyone and I can go out whenever I want.  Having been single for quite some time, I believe I have enjoyed the experience they speak of.  I believe that marriage can and does make you happy much like exercise can and does make you healthy.  Exercise is not something where we just sit back and do nothing while reaping the benefits (believe me, if this were the case, I'd be one of the most in shape people alive).  It takes effort and dedication in order to reap the rewards.  The same, I believe, is what happens in marriage.  It takes effort and dedication to the marriage in order to reap the rewards that come from it (one of which I believe is happiness).  And just as with exercise, when we stop putting for the effort and our dedication begins to fade we begin to not only lose the benefits we have gained, we begin to move backward.  I believe all too often the idea is that once we are married the work is done.  Sure, we will remain dedicated to the relationship but do we really need to try as hard anymore?  I say the answer is a resounding YES!!!  I hope that the time will come where I will be able to experience the effort it takes to be in a successful marriage so I can reap the rewards that come from it.  So can marriage help you be happy?  I guess it depends if you are willing to put in the effort to reap that reward.