So, you’re in a long-distance relationship, or you're about to be and dreading it. It's not that bad. Trust me. Perhaps it’s 100 miles, perhaps it’s 2100 miles. Regardless, you suddenly went from seeing your significant other nearly every day to every other weekend, or even every other month or even every three months. Maybe you’ve been dating since high school, or maybe you met over the summer and figured it was worth it to continue seeing each other. While I’m lucky and my long distance relationship is all of 100 miles (UC to OSU), there are definite upsides as well as downsides.
Here are just a few reasons why they aren’t THAT bad:
1. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
2. You get to focus on becoming your own person, and becoming the best version of yourself.
3. You become more independent.
4. You become a pro at communication.
Yes, being away from someone for weeks upon weeks is awful, but it makes the time spent together much more meaningful. Whether that time is spent via physically visiting for a weekend, or even just a phone call on a Wednesday afternoon, the time you take out of your day to focus on that person is much more meaningful. They’re busy, you’re busy, so being able to really focus on them for even fifteen minutes can make your day.
Sure, change is inevitable when you return to school, and you will always be growing and adapting. But, it really helps to focus on your own self and work on becoming the best version of you for you AND for your significant other, even if you’re very far away. You become forced to know how to grow in the relationship, while also growing as a human being.
Long are the days where you ask your significant other to come over and help you with a math problem, if they would mind ordering Chinese food, whether or not “good” eggs float, or if they would mind doing your laundry. You’re on your own now… but Google exists and it is your friend. You are forced to go to some campus events alone (unless your roommate is awesome), but even though you are a strong, independent, woman…you have a man that you’re going the distance for! While you should always be your own person outside of the relationship, you are really forced to be when you are on two different college campuses, or in two different parts of the world.
If your relationship is going smoothly, you’re probably doing awesome at the whole communication thing. Without being on the same page about anything and everything, a long distance relationship can and will likely fall to pieces. While this can lead to having “big talks” and perhaps an embarrassing confession (i.e. I don’t party, and it’s awesome that he doesn’t either), it’s key to be on the same page about everything to allow for long distance to work.
