"Are you crazy?" They'll say, as you tell your friends and family you're going to do a long distance relationship in college. Among my other favorites are, "What about living it up and dating around?" or "Aren't you concerned he/she is going to cheat on you?" Well, Aunt whatsherface, yes, I am crazy. In the cheesiest, most Hallmark Channel way to explain it, I am crazy in love with this person. Hence my ever-so-crazy endeavor in attempting a relationship built on phone calls and FaceTimes. As for living and the whole cheating thing? Well, this is what I'm here to address in my open letter below. To those entering college while in a long distance relationship, this is for you.

I have been in a long distance relationship for almost two years now. Through all of the meltdowns, seemingly slow motion embraces when you reunite, and hours spent FaceTiming, we both have learned a thing or two about how to to maintain a healthy relationship miles away. In my opinion, and to a few other couples in LDRs (long distance relationships) I’ve talked to, the three fundamental pillars of keeping a healthy LDR are trust, loyalty, and commitment.

I suppose you could say every LDR needs a little (or a lot) of TLC, huh? Eh? Get it?

Which brings me to my next point: When people ask about your concern in either party being cheated on? To be quite honest, in the LDRs and normal relationships I’ve seen, there’s been the same amount of cheating in both. Whether or not the person is going to cheat on you really doesn’t depend on the distance between the two, but rather just the morals and characteristics of the person with whom you have a relationship. Yes, distance does make it easier to navigate an affair because the other isn’t there to catch you, but if you are really so concerned that that’s a possibility, perhaps you’re entering this relationship with the wrong person.

The other concern that people will ask you is whether or not you’re “living it up” in college by dating someone who isn’t with you all the time. To this, I just have to say, excuse me? Don’t let this principal penetrate your thoughts for one second, because it enforces the idea that one of the only ways you can have fun in college is by going out and dating boys or kissing that cutie at the bar only to get your hopes up and be let down.

I can truly, honestly, say to you all that being in an LDR has helped me in more ways than one to truly “live it up” the college way. Because I had a secure relationship with a person I couldn’t spend all of my time with, it helped me form really strong bonds with other friends, and go out just to have a good night with the girls creating memories, rather than focusing my energy on some jerk that I probably wouldn’t remember years to come.

There’s nothing worse than being best friends with someone and having them meet a guy, and then BAM! Down the Bermuda Triangle that is college dating, they’re gone, nowhere to be found but Justin from chem class’ apartment. And then when you do see her for the first time since she started dating this guy, she just has to bring him with. Guess what? You’ll never be that person! You get to really form tight bonds with your friends without falling into that trap of spending all of your time with your significant other.

Another thing that you will come to learn while embarking upon this relationship is that, while at time it’s a mess of emotions and uncertainty, you learn so much about your partner in such a short amount of time. I mean seriously, things that take couples years to find about out each other you find out within the first six months of being together. You are forced to connect purely through communication. Think about that. When was the last time that your relationship solely relied on communicating to keep it alive?

When you live close to each other, you’ll most likely communicate but you can also rely on physically being in their presence as a way of keeping it alive. When I’m with my boyfriend at home, there are times where I’ll come over and simply sit in front of the TV with him saying nothing. Don’t get me wrong, that’s nice and all, but when you’re apart the only option is to communicate. So you text, call, FaceTime, whatever you can do and really get to delve into how each other works emotionally within the relationship. Your relationship matures much quicker.

It’s going to hurt, you’re going to question whether or not you can do it, and you’re going to wonder why in the hell you are doing this when all of your other friends are out dating. But remember, you’re in a relationship with someone who is willing to sacrifice as much as you are to keep this going. You’ll learn so much about yourself and how to emotionally mature and trust, I mean really and truly trust. But at the end of the day, if you’re with the right person, it will be totally and completely worth. Best of luck to all of you.

P.S. I love you, Chase.