If you are considering Long Distance, you and your significant other have probably been together for a while and something has come up, a job, college, an opportunity, where if the relationship is to continue, there’s a great deal of distance involved. The question is, should you do Long Distance?
How much texting is too much? Do we call each other everyday? More than once? How often should we visit each other? Relationships are not simple no matter what the circumstances but Long Distance comes with a whole other set of rules. Many choose to cut off the relationship because distance may be too much but that may not always be the best decision while some stay together when the relationship has always been doomed.
Long Distance is a commitment, not only to your partner but to yourself, and it’s a lot of work. At the bare minimum, those prone to cheating and couples who are not very serious about one another are not fit for long distance. If you are going to make that commitment to someone, make sure they are worth your time and effort.
So, if you and your partner do decide to go ahead with a long distance relationship, here are some tips from my experience to hopefully help.
1.Trust your partner
If you choose to do long distance, you sacrifice the part of the relationship where you get to be around the other person all the time and know what they are up to. Trust your partner and believe they are where they say they are doing what they say they are doing; if there is no trust why continue the relationship?
2. Know Each Other’s Schedules
Knowing each other’s schedules helps you know where the other is at mentally and physically and takes away from the constant annoying text “What’re you up to?”. It also shows you care about the other person to consciously be thinking about them and how they are spending their day.
3. Talk Often But Not Excessively
Texting mildly throughout the day and calling/skyping once a day is reasonable and not suffocating. Both people have separate lives and come together through a relationship but you have to make sure you are still living your own life and not letting the relationship consume you or your partner. You and your partner may not always have aligning schedules to actually talk for a while, don’t fret, there’s always tomorrow.
4. There are More Ways of Expression than Texting and Calling
Send letters, make playlists for each other, write poems, watch the same movies and tv shows, send pictures of things that remind you of the other. Just expressing through texts and talking that you love them may not be enough so being able to connect about something else besides each other bring s both closer emotionally.
5. Make the Visits Count
This will mean different things to every couple, but allow the time you get to see them as a way to recharge the love you have for them and to remind you why you are committed to a long distance relationship with this specific person. Allow yourself to be reminded of why you love them.
6.Try to Not Mainly Take Your Anger Out on the Other
Our partner is someone we feel extremely close with and probably understands us better than most but that doesn’t mean that every time you talk means a venting session of everything that isn’t going well. Try to understand your own emotions before dumping them on your partner, especially since they are far away. Use the time you talk as a way to remind yourself the good in your life.
