After you’ve chosen to get divorced, you should be fully aware of the consequences if you’re planning on getting married again someday. Dating and seeing men and women after divorce comes with its own set of challenges that you should be aware of before making the decision to enter those messy proceedings.

Although practice makes perfect in many cases, it’s simply not true when applied to second marriages in California. According to research conducted in the past few years, over half – nearly 65% – of second marriages end in a second divorce. If one chooses to get married a third time, the chances of divorce are closer to 80%. So why are second-chance divorce rates so high?

Experts say such high divorce rates exist in California because someone who gets divorced once is more likely to not think through doing it again. They jump on decisions instead of making things work instead. Sometimes a rebound relationship becomes a second marriage, and then it’s already too late to decide whether it was the right decision or not.

Sometimes subsequent marriages don’t involve any children, so the reasons to stay together aren’t as prevalent. The fear factor when it comes to divorce can also make it difficult to save a marriage, simply because it’s easier to leave than it is to work out the issues that have come up.

Before you even begin to date after divorce, make sure you work through any lingering emotional problems. Know why you got divorced in the first place, and make plans on avoiding letting that happen again. All relationships will take a whole lot more work than you want to see, even if you’ve already been through a divorce and have that experience.