Balancing work in college is already hard. With constant classes, study groups, meetings and mounds of homework, maintaining a healthy relationship in college is much harder than it looks on books and on tv, especially if you don’t go to the same school. Here are a few things I’ve learned on how to maintain a healthy college relationship:
Send Each other your schedules
College life is pretty hectic, so managing your time is very important in a relationship. Sending you schedules to one another will help you and your significant other find time for each other despite all the coursework. If you find your schedules both particularly busy, find an hour or two a week where you’re both able to have a phone call or grab a cup of coffee. Maintaining busy schedules definitely causes rough patches in relationships, but being patient and understanding of each other will help you pull through.
Share your shared (and unshared) interests
Doing the things you both love together will keep you together, whether it’s a long distance date night with an online movie, or a night together on the town, your common interests will keep your passion alive. My significant other and I are admittedly very nerdy, so when we get to see each other, our dates usually tend to involve our favorite tv shows (Rick and Morty is a definite favorite of ours), playing music together, or going to our favorite restaurants. However, our unshared interests also keep our relationship lively and interesting as well. For example, our academic interests could not be any more opposite if we tried, him being a computer science major and me having a passion for psychology, difference always gives us something to talk about, whether its him telling me about the latest hackathon he attended, or me rambling about my most recent research on human emotions, our differences always offer a conversation topic.
Keep the Romance alive
When one person has a particularly intense semester, the other can sometimes feel lonely or left out of their significant other’s life. Reminding your significant other that you care about them with small romantic gestures reminds them that even though you’re busy, you still think about them throughout your day. Sending them a cute good morning text or surprising them with a care package is sure to make their day and remind them just how much they mean to you. This can also go both ways. When you know your partner is having a stressful week, sending them a little extra love and support is sure to help them get through it, whether it’s sending them funny snapchats throughout the day, or even getting a pizza delivered to their dorm, let them know that you’re rooting for them.
Trust and Communication
This is a big one, especially if you and your significant other attend different schools. I know I have a big issue with this one, and my significant other has helped me a lot with struggling with a long-distance relationship and the issues that come with it. COMMUNICATION IS KEY! Voice your issues to each other and work together to come to a resolution that works for both you and your partner. Compromises are going to have to be made, but in the end, it will make your relationship stronger as you both learn more about each other, and find it easier to come up with ways to work through your issues. Remind each other that you both made a commitment to the relationship and will not do anything to betray your partner’s trust. In the end you chose each other for a reason, so believe that your partner cares about you and wants to be with you, and maybe the things you think are going to create problems in the relationship are really not as much of an issue as you think.
Making sure your relationship is healthy will lead to a better relationship between you and your SO!