My boyfriend, Kevin, and I have been in a relationship for almost 3 years now. Recently he moved to San Antonio, TX and I’m stuck in Chicago, IL. I love everything about my boyfriend but one thing I love the most is the fact that he doesn’t let the distance affect our relationship. From what I have experienced in my relationship, here are some tips to making your relationship last the distance:
1. Don’t Give Up
We’ve all heard to phrase “Distance makes the heart grow fonder” and I believe this to be 100% true. You’re going to hear many people say that distance is hard or that it’s not worth it but don’t EVER let that change your feelings. I’m not going to lie, distance is hard and it’s always going to be hard. But it’s definitely worth it. You and only you know how you feel about your significant other and your relationship.
2. Trust
Trust is the foundation of any great relationship. To ensure that your long distance relationship will be able to withstand the distance, talk with your partner about trusting each other. In my case, I’ve always been a jealous person: don’t look at my boyfriend, don’t talk to my boyfriend, don’t think about my boyfriend. But this all changed once he moved away. What I once might have gotten upset about now didn’t matter as much because trust matters. You have to trust that your partner will make every decision with your relationship in mind.
3. Call Just to Say Hi
Sometimes a random call at 2:45 pm for no reason is one of the best presents in a long distance relationship. Just hearing your partner’s voice for 5 minutes a day is sometimes all you need to make you realize why the distance is worth it.
4. Visit Each Other
Planning a visit to see your significant other after not seeing each other in a while will give you those butterflies you got when you first kissed. Getting to hug them for the first time in a while makes you feel like you are in the safest place on earth and that everything in the world is okay for once.
5. Communicate
By communicate, I don’t just mean call/text each other. I mean talk about things that are bothering you. Talk about the guy at work that looked you up and down and how you shot him down. Talk about how much you miss each other. Talk about the problems in your life. Just talk about everything, because without communication, when you see each other again you might be different people.
6. See This As an Opportunity
Although it might seem like the hardest thing in the world, see this as an opportunity to better yourself. This is a great time to become the person you want to be as well as a time for you to realize that your life doesn’t revolve around your partner. This is also a great opportunity to see how much you guys actually need each other. Every day things are harder without your partner while others are a lot easier.
Altogether, long distance relationships may be hard, but they are so worth it!