We’ve all heard about the struggles of maintaining a long distance relationship and the many different ways to keep them going. From late night Skype calls to spending hundreds on plane tickets, people in a long distance relationship do everything they can to keep communication consistent so that their relationship doesn’t suffer. It takes a lot to keep them going, and unless you’re willing to sacrifice time together, I suggest not getting into one. While I would never want to go through long distance in a relationship, long distance friendships are a whole other story.
Most of my close friends do not live in the same city as me. This is something that just happens when you grow up and people start to move away. Whether it’s a different city, a different state, or even a different country, distance is distance, and it can be very hard. While I’ve never had to experience a long distance relationship, I have been maintaining long distance friendships for years. Just as there are with relationships though, there are ways to maintain friendships too.
If you look up articles titled “How to maintain a long distance relationship,” you’ll find many telling you the same things over and over again. Things such as keeping up consistent communication, making trips to visit each other, being open with each other, and even writing letters to each other. These techniques for maintaining a long distance relationship also surprisingly apply to long distance friendships.
When you hang out with your friends, you have many options for things to do: going to the movies, going out to eat, going shopping, or even just hanging out at someone’s house. However, if your friends aren’t in the same city as you, these options become limited. When I want to spend time with my friends who live somewhere else, I usually video chat with them or play video games online. I find different ways to hang out and talk to them. One really important thing for a relationship of any kind is communication, and there are many ways to maintain constant communication. I find that the biggest form of communication my friends and I use is Snapchat, which I know has become a very popular app. By using Snapchat, I can easily carry on a conversation with my friends throughout the day. I believe that communication is the most important because without it, the friendship will slowly die down and become nonexistent.
Visiting each other is also important so that you’re able to spend time together in person. However, it can be very expensive, depending on how far away you live, so this option can be difficult to carry out. I’m able to see my friends that live only a city apart fairly regularly, but for my friends that live on an ocean apart, visiting each other isn’t an option (not unless someone is willing to buy me a plane ticket). While seeing each other multiple times in person is more important for long distance relationships than long distance friendships, it is a nice option to have when you want to be able to have all of those hang out options again.
One thing that is really important to me when it comes to my friendships is knowing a lot about my friends. I love when they tell me about their days, their problems, and the things that make them happy/sad/angry/etc. If my friends are upset about something, I want to know. Especially if that something is me. In a long distance relationship, one tip is to always be open with each other. If you’re having problems with your partner, be open about it, otherwise it’ll only negatively affect your relationship. By being open, you can build a certain trust with your partner that strengthens your relationship further. This is true for friendships too. If you’re mad at your friends or having issues with them, the best thing you can do is be upfront with them. This will allow you to fix your problems faster instead of just letting them fester.
One form of communication that, while outdated, can be romantic and sentimental is writing each other letters. I’ve known couples in long distance relationships that sent letters to each other because it was more personal. My friends and I used to write letters to each other just because it was a fun way to talk, and I’m a sentimental person so I liked being able to save their letters. While it may be old fashioned and take much, much longer than sending an instant message, it is more personal and can be very entertaining.
Regardless of whether or not your relationship is romantic or just a friendship, maintaining it while living in different places can be difficult, but there are many way to ensure that your relationship is successful and long lasting. I love my friends to death. I don’t know what I would do (or who I would be) without them. I’d do anything for them, and I know they would do the same for me. While it sometimes really sucks to not have them close to me when I need them, I still know that they will always be there for me, regardless of how many miles are between us.
