When we first heard about going to a marriage conference I was very skeptical. My first thoughts were that we weren’t suffering in our marriage so why would need to go and what kind of event would it be anyways with a bunch of sad, struggling people attending. Not only was I totally wrong about this all I actually had fun and even learned a few things that I think will be useful. What I didn’t realize was that the marriage conference is for those people who want to work on having an even better marriage than they already do. We got to have a lovely evening without the children laughing and just having fun and then we spent the next day learning ways to communicate better and keep talking about everything with each other so that you don’t stop talking altogether!
So, since I’m sure I am not the only one who thinks these things about marriage conferences I will share some myths I believed and how it actually was.
Myth #1
A marriage conference is for couples who are suffering in their marriages.
While I am sure that the conference would totally help those couples that are barely hanging on I definitely don’t think that’s who they are created for. If you are banking on a bunch of people who are barely talking to one another it’s going to be pretty hard to fill up an event. These events are actually geared towards anyone who would like to build an even stronger marriage and learn different skills to help with that.
Myth #2
The conference was going to make you feel like your marriage wasn’t good.
I was worried that the speaker was going to spew a bunch of facts and bible verses at us that would inevitably make us feel like we were falling short. This actually didn’t happen at all, if anything, at the end of the weekend I was feeling encouraged to keep working on the things we were already working on and felt like I had some tools to help me communicate with my husband better!
Myth #3
Marriage conferences must be dry and boaring
I’m sure this is true with some of them, seeing as I have only been to this one I definitely can’t speak for them all. What I can say though is you should definitely give it a try because it might surprise you and you might end up having a really great time. Our marriage conference speaker was Steve Geyer, a comedian and pastor, so not only did we learn so really awesome stuff we spent for of the weekend laughing!
Myth #4
My husband wouldn’t want to go and I’d feel guilty for dragging him along.
Believe it or not, men are just as interested in making things run smoothly and without conflict. My husband was totally open to attending the conference and actually really enjoyed himself. He thought the comedy was really funny and said that he learned some really great information. So, if you want to go but you think that your husband wouldn’t, just ask, he might surprise you!
Myth #5
You would get split up into a small group without your spouse to talk about feelings
As someone who deals with anxiety, going to these types of events is a big accomplishment for me and I have been working very hard to get here. I did not want to be separated into small groups, so I figured that we would go and if it came to take I would just excuse myself. This particular conference was all together the whole time though! If you’re really concerned you can always phone or email the event coordinator and just ask.
