Tips for a Long Distance Relationship

Managing a long distance relationship can be tough. It is difficult to deal with not seeing one another very often, and not being able to carry out the simple pleasures of living near one another, like having dinner together often or just hanging out one on one. However, if your situation demands your relationship be long distance, then there are some things you can do to make it easier on the both of you.

Implement the ways you have to communicate with one another. Do your best to be available via text of facebook whenever you can. It does not take very long to answer a text or facebook message, and sending each other messages about your day periodically can really help you feel connected while you are physically far apart. When you have a bit more time on your hands, use skype or facetime to communicate. Maybe even have a date night weekly or bi-weekly, where you video chat and have dinner together. This will take some of the strain of not being able to actually ‘go out’ together off of the relationship. Above all, call each other. Try to talk on the phone and hear each other’s voices daily, or at least a few times a week. This will take a bit of the emotional and communicational distance away from the relationship.

When you are not close enough to someone physically to check in on your significant other periodically, it is easy to get suspicious about what they do. Check in with one another once and a while. Tell your significant other that you are going out with friends, or that you are going to dinner with your classmates. You do not need to check in with them twenty four seven, but periodically mentioning where you are and who you are with can only help qualm their fears, and will also help you two feel more connected, because you are in on each other’s plans, even though you can not physically be there.

It is important to spend time together when you can, but do not shut out the rest of your world. Being in a relationship means being a part of one another’s lives. This means getting to know each other’s friends, and being a part of their lives in general. If you hide yourselves away in your house to have one on one time every second that you are physically together, then you are actually harming your relationship. Eventually you will want to be part of one another’s lives when you end up living near one another. So it is important to get a head start on that. Being in a relationship for years and realizing that you have alienated your friends because you will not see them when you are with your significant other will not help your relationship, or your friendships.

Long distance relationships are manageable, if you are both willing to put in the additional effort. This means effort towards your significant other, and also effort towards the rest of the people in your life. Having a long distance significant other can easily cause you to compromise the rest of your relationships, and unless you want to lose many friends in the process, maintaining these relationships is as important as maintaining your romantic relationship.