The holiday classic “I’ll be Home for Christmas” often brings a smile to those of us in college struggling with finals or those who are recent graduates struggling with their new job. The thoughts of home cooked meals, hot cocoa, and seeing our family and pets brings about a renewed sense of faith in ourselves.
However, if your significant other is not going to be in the same city as you for the holidays, that renewed sense of faith in yourself can quickly turn into anger, disappointment, and asking yourself the merciless question of “Why me?!”
Of course you and your beau will be reunited in a matter of days or weeks, but not being around your significant other at this significant time of the year can be difficult. How can you make it through the next few days or weeks of cocoa and holiday cheer without missing your significant other too much?
1. Skype, if you have ever been away from a significant other for more than a week, you are probably already familiar with this suggestion. While it seems like an obvious tool for you to use, take it a step further than the average “Skype date.” Try opening presents via Skype, so you can see one another’s reactions, introduce them to family members or friends that they would not otherwise get a chance to meet, etc. This way you can share your holiday experience and season with one another even when you are miles apart.
2. When you are away from your significant other, and they are busier than you, or the time zones make it so that your internal clocks are too out of wack to communicate, you can start to feel like a dog at the kennel waiting for their owner to pick them up while they are on vacation. Instead, try to distract yourself and take advantage of your alone time by working on that “To Do” list that you have been avoiding for months.
3. Try not to treat your physical distance as an excuse to allow for emotional distance. It can be easy and sometimes even unintentional to let the distance get the better of you and your partner by not reaching out as much as you usually do. But lack of initiative can read as something negative to your partner, even if you don’t mean it to be. The holiday season can be a magic season for us, however, it is also often connected to high stress. Just because you are not physically next to your partner does not mean that you cannot be there for them emotionally.
4. Count down the days (even hours). There’s no shame in anticipating the reunion! You count down the days till your birthday and your favorite holidays, so why not reuniting with your significant other?! In case you are bad at counting or if you want a count down to the second, you can use timeanddate.com. You can use their site to personalize a countdown for you from the title, the background, and counting to the exact second if you want. You can literally watch as the seconds tick by, getting closer and closer.
And finally, once all of your patience (or beating your head against the wall) has paid off, you will be reunited! And it will be glorious.