Long Distance Friendship

In this article, you can find three useful tips to keep the friendship that you have nurtured through the years. This might be also a stepping stone for you to finally approach your friend that you have not communicated with for a long time but you know in your heart that when you see each other, as if there wasn't a time boundary at all. So just read along and have a trip to your memory lane.

You can agree with me in this: high school is forever. There are a lot of firsts in our high school life; there's our first crush (or maybe love), first failed exam, first night out, and everything that you have in mind right now. Then there is our friends who have been with us with all our firsts, and yes, that right there, is a very good foundation of friendship. You learn to trust each other and build each other up and not the other way around.

"There is this mutual feeling that you like each other's company and you trust each other that they don't tell your secrets to anyone...In my experience, I shared stories with someone regularly and the trust was just accumulated along the way." --Stefany, 25

It is undeniably the digital age and keeping in touch with our dearest friends is just few clicks and taps away! According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior." There are a lot of social media platforms that people utilize. These platforms are very easy to use that people in different ages use them to communicate digitally. Our parents don't need to wait for a week or longer just to receive news from us on how are we doing. We also don't need to go to post offices for us to deliver our love messages to our sweethearts.

"Get in touch anytime...if possible, meet once a month" -- Cyprus, 22

It is also ideal to meet friends once in a while to catch up because sometimes people find it hard to explain through text or through social media. Then when you see each other again, it is more than magical that as if you have just seen each other yesterday but the truth is, it was ten years ago the last time when you've been together.

Why do I say that? It is because it happened to me last month when me and my high school friends decided to have a one night staycation and it seems we came back in high school just talking about our crushes but this time our love life (wink).

We can’t be really online full time and that means even though we try to keep the communication, there is our thesis project that is due next week, our job waiting for us in the morning, our business that is on its peak of success or its in the depth struggling, our children whom we need to fetch from school, and many reasons more that made us often found offline. The great news is, we have these true friends that understand us the most. It is clear to them that we can’t always attend to them whenever they have a story to share with us. They understand that we have our own goals every day that we have to achieve. They just don't want to be the hindrance to our success. Most of the time, they just leave a message for them to know that we are okay and still sane in this crazy world.

"My five tips to a long distance friendship? It is this easy!

1. Text them "Hey, I am still alive! bleeeh!"
2. Remember Tip 1
3. Remember Tip 2
4. Remember Tip 3
5. And lastly, remember back Tip 1 Hahaha

True friends read the messages upside down with the factor of scaling it between the lines" -- John Rey, 26

Sometimes, it not really necessary that you need to share a story to your friend just to start a conversation and keep up with them. Most of the time, we are very shy to just start one becasue of their busy schedule. It doesn't urt to just say "What's up?" or "How are you doing? Is everything fine?". Believe me, a simple message like that can turn everything around especially now that mental health is a serious matter in this age. You will never know that a text or a message that they did not expect to receive will brighten up their day or it can be a start for them to share what do they really feel.