Seven Secrets To Staying Married

1. It's okay, even healthy, to have secrets: It's your relationship, not anyone else's, and there is no gold standard marriage. Everyone has issues, problems, so don't worry that your marriage isn't measuring up. No one knows what's really going on in a marriage except the two people in it. That gives each of us the freedom to write our own rules and keep our own secrets.

2. You don't get it all in one place: Staying married takes bold creativity, a variety of sideline adventures. If you depend on one person in one house to sustain you until death do you part that's a ticket to divorce. A marriage that runs on multiple tracks makes for a happier wife who gets to have it both ways -- a committed marriage and adventures in uncharted territory.

3. Hang out with outrageous girlfriends: The wives with the highest marital satisfaction have a tight circle of wild and warm women friends with whom to drink, travel and vent. With women in their early 90s comprising the fastest growing segment of the aging population, and many marriages lasting more than 50 years, we're going to need all the laughs and support we can get! Our girlfriends, ever-forgiving and always empathetic, provide the escape hatch!

4. Take separate vacations – or separate summers: You like to camp and your husband likes to golf? Spend a month in the Adirondacks while he goes with his buddies toScottsdale or better yet, Scotland. After some weeks apart from each other, removed from the grind of ordinary life, marriage seems way hotter than the tepid state in which you left each other in.

5. Indulge in boy-best-friendships: Platonic friendships are a sexy pick-me-up without the complications of adultery. Women who love the company of men shouldn't have to eliminate male friends from their lives; extra-marital always think we're smart and beautiful (because they don't live with us) and that's great ego feed.

6. Lower your expectations: It's a dangerous fantasy to think marriage really means happily-ever-after. Expecting perfection in a marriage or a mate is a fast ticket to divorce. This realization forces women in aging marriages to be urgent about creating their own purpose and passions outside of their relationships. Marital bliss is possible if each partner is blissful without the other.

7. Be grateful: In between wifely gallivants and self-exploration, remember to love the guy you married. Remember to appreciate the confident and flexible husband that allows you to have an independent and fulfilling life beyond your marriage. Don't try to win every fight; give in, surrender and say "I'm sorry" (even if you're not sorry one bit) instead of holding onto snarly anger that forms toxic wedges over time. The ability to forge onward through strife and arguments is the real secret that makes marriages last forever.