The four years you spend at college may be the best years of your life. They're filled with new adventures and experiences. You meet people from all around the world with all sorts of personality types and backgrounds. It's an exhilarating time that seems to fly by, but what about the people back home? Home life and college life seem to be two different entities that can't ever mesh together. Whichever one you are in currently makes you yearn for the other. Long-distance romantic relationships are infamous for their hard upkeep, but what about the non-romantic ones? No exception to the rule, they are also strenuous and no matter how hard you try, things are not the same. Here are three long-distance relationships that suffer because of college:
1. Your Home-Town Best friend
You try to keep each other as updated as you were in High School, but somehow things slip. Slowly more and more things fall through the cracks and soon enough you realize you forgot to tell them that you got a new job, let alone about the cute boy you exchanged numbers with in the laundry room. You bond is still unbreakable, but your involvement in each other's lives falls to an all time low.
2. The Baby
One of your siblings, cousins, god-children, neighbors, etc. was barely walking when you left. Now that you're back, they're not only walking and talking, but they have a better phone than you! No longer do they fall asleep in your arms, but scream and run in the opposite direction of you screaming "Stranger Danger!" Sure they're never going to remember that you weren't there later on in life, but you'll always know that you missed out on them growing up.
3. Your Dog
Let's call him Rover. You and Rover were inseparable. Rover used to stay up all night with you when you had to pull all nighters for your AP classes just out of pure solidarity. But now? Now, Rover suddenly decided that your parents room is where he wants to sleep at night. No longer does he warm your feet at night. After the novelty of having you back is gone, he runs straight back to his new favorite humans.
It's hard feeling like you're putting your life on hold, but also creating a life at the same time. Your old life isn't waiting for you and your new own hasn't quite been stabilized yet. Long-distance is putting pressure on all your friendships and relationships. Even though you may grow apart or be apart, this does not mean your relationships are invalidated.
