Married Apart Together

In the previous weeks, me and my wife got quite some questions about our alternative approach to living together - or maybe our approach to life in general.

Most people know me as the professional speaker on the Change Mindset. I travel a lot (at least before COVID19) and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to experience a lot of different cultures. This helps to look at the world from a different perspective when needed and stimulates creativity & innovation. But also in my private life, I like to approach the world from an alternative route.

Liane and I met each other 9 years ago and we are now married for 1,5 year. Before our marriage, we were Living Apart Together - a very conscious choice. Liane lives in Amsterdam. I live in Antwerp (cities are 155 km apart - 90 minutes drive or 2 hours by train). We are both self-employed and love our work. We have no kids which is of course a crucial element otherwise the situation would be a lot more complex. Many friends were expecting that we finally would live together after our marriage, but we didn’t. This way of living apart together is perfect for us (at this moment):

• During the week, we have completely autonomy of what we do (I can watch my favourite Netflix series while Liane solves murders (series)).
• In the weekends, we’re very happy to see each other again because we missed each other for a week. We can also give each other a lot of quality time.
• The location of the weekends depends on our social calendar with our friends and family
• We can enjoy the best of two great cities

It works absolutely great for us and I can imagine that we decide to live together at one moment but at this moment it works.

It is not necessary to fulfil the pressure of society to get married, live together, build your house, have kids and buy a pet to be happy.

Different paths are possible.