People always say long distance relationships are hard, but what they don’t say is that it’s hard because you’re in limbo. You’re in this place where you aren’t single, yet a lot of the time you aren’t able to do things couples would. When I spent a week in bed with the flu all I wanted was my boyfriend to bring me some soup and crawl in bed to watch movies with me. While I knew he would do these things if he was here, he wasn’t able to due to the fact that would require him to drive 4 hours and miss a substantial amount of school.
Being in a long distance relationship is like having a single person’s mentality in the sense that you’re still depending largely on yourself, you’re still making plans with friends the same way you would and your main concerns are your goals or taking care of yourself. This isn’t to say your S.O. isn’t an important part of your life, because they are. It can just be harder to incorporate them and feel connected to them when they’re hundreds of miles away.
The longer you go without seeing your significant other, the more of a challenge it is to feel connected. That’s why it is so important to carve out time to FaceTime or video chats with them.If you’re not putting in as much effort as you would a regular relationship, your relationship is not going to be successful.
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Just like every other relationship, it’s constantly growing and each person involved is evolving. In order for each couple to feel as if they are apart of the others lives, communication is key. Whether it may be talking about something silly a roommate did or voicing serious concerns about school, life and the relationship itself, making time for one another is a key component.
Counting down the time until you see your S.O., and knowing that the time you spend with them is worth the wait, makes every hardship worth it. It can be easy to lose sight of why you’re putting yourself through this, but at the end of the day you have to remember why you care about your S.O. and why you started fighting for your relationship in the first place.