Relationships are hard. Everyone faces different challenges when dating someone. Whatever challenges you are facing in your relationship isn’t worth less that someone else’s. The key thing is how you and your significant other respond to the situation at hand. For me, the past year I have been dealing with a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend. He decided to join the military after graduating high school and I couldn’t be prouder of his choice to serve his country. However, we had to face the reality of what that meant for us. He had to go to a different part of the country for boot camp where we could only write to one another. We spent a lot of time thinking and talking about what to do, but in the end, we decided to stay together through boot camp and if it was too much then we would break up.
It was hard. I knew little of what military boot camp was like, and my only comfort was a letter in the mail once a week from him letting me know he was ok. I struggled. I had to continue going to school like normal and continue life without him. Now, it isn’t healthy to center your entire world around your significant other, but that person is a part of your life and to have them abruptly leave is quite an adjustment.
There were lots of moments where I would give almost anything to see my boyfriend even if it was just for a minute. It was draining. I had to realize that this separation was a test of our relationship to see if he and I cared about each other enough to make it work. I continued to write to him, but I decided I needed to find new things to do on my own and become more dependent on myself. I would go on walks with my dog after school, visit his family in hopes of getting to know them better, help at church events, and many other things. It helped me to meet new people and become more confident in who I was. Once he graduated, he was given his phone back. We spent many hours on the phone reconnecting and sharing new stories, and we soon realized that we had made the right choice in staying together.
To the couples in a military relationship, I say bravo. While I am young and am still learning about what it is like to be in a military relationship, the glimpse I have been given this year shows how much goes into your relationship to keep your bond strong. To those who are about to go through what I have, think first. The road is long, tough, and can take a toll on you. Look at how strong your relationship is with your significant other and how much trust and faith you have in another before saying yes to staying together. My boyfriend and I still face the hardship of long distance. We are both in college at different schools in different towns, but it is certainly much easier than while he was at boot camp. The extremeness of boot camp helps us appreciate the moments we have together more as we face the challenge of long distance one day at a time. I miss him every day, but if you care about them and love them, you find a way to make it work.