The last that most Bachelor and Bachelorette fans see of their newly engaged couples is a smiling-and-holding-hands appearance on After The Final Rose, so the fact that Lauren Bushnell and Ben Higgins are working through their relationship on Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After is pretty big. It’s easy to fall in love on television, but it’s harder to stay in love and deal with real life. I recognize that some of the elements of Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After are indeed scripted, but the fact that Ben and Lauren are fighting on national television is not. And you know what? That’s a great thing.
It’s great because all of the successful couples I know have an argument from time to time. They’re not necessarily knockdown, drag-out fights or major screaming matches, but disagreement is good for a relationship, because it forces a couple to compromise and work things out. If you can’t do that, you weren’t meant to be a couple in the first place, right? Ben and Lauren have only known each other for about a year, but now that their wedding schedule has been moved up, Lauren has started the dreaming process. She wants a wedding, she’s thinking about kids, and that has her thinking of a new house for her and Ben to grow into as a family. This freaks Ben out because all he sees is dollar signs, and they had an argument on Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After about all of the spending she’s imagining. Ben is getting cold feet, y’all. But Lauren is right — he proposed to her on national television, so why shouldn’t she expect a wedding. Let’s be real — ABC is paying for it. They can do whatever they want.
Ben and Lauren are still together as of me writing this, so it’s obvious that they’re able to work out their differences. Ben and Lauren even told E! Online that they’re in couples counseling to make sure that their foundation for marriage is as good as it can be. As long as these two keep fighting (and compromising), they’re sure to make it. All relationships require work.
Images: Melissa Jordan/Freeform; Giphy
