Dear Friends,

I've been in a relationship for over a year now, and things couldn't be better. It started half way through senior year of high school, when I told myself I didn't even want a relationship because of college.

When summer 2018 came, I started to doubt things. There wasn't anything wrong with the relationship at the time, I was just worried because of one thing: long distance.

I always hear mixed things about long distance relationships. They either work out very well or end terribly. No matter what the outcome is, it's okay. Long distance relationships aren't for every couple out there in the world. It takes trust, time, love, and dedication.

My girlfriend and I never have real fights. Yeah, we will joke about things and bash on each other, but we never really got to the point of a full-blown argument. Discussing long distance and our different point of views on it almost brought us to that point. I was worried about how it would all work out being an hour and a half away from her, and she wasn't worried at all. We hit a few bumps in the road working on it. We cried and talked about it every day practically. It sucked being in that situation knowing that we both cared about each other, but couldn't agree on the situation at hand.

Now, I hate change. I hate transitioning to new things and not having my days planned out. It gets me on edge and I lose my focus on a lot of things that are important to me. Surprisingly though, moving to college wasn't that hard for me. I adjusted really well and I felt truly happy there. Regardless, I was still worried about the long distance situation.

My girlfriend and I broke up around halfway through September. It's not that I didn't want the relationship or anything like that. I just truly needed to focus on college and experience it on my own for a bit. We still talked everyday because we cared about each other, and she knew that I needed to get out of this funk to make this work.

Towards the beginning of October, we got together to see a Broadway musical that we got tickets for way back, and we talked it out. I told her that I felt better about the long distance thing. I hated not being with her all the time, but I hated the fact that we weren't in a relationship at all more than that. Being on that break taught me that sometimes you have to fight for the things you love no matter how tough the situation is.

Since then she has come to visit me practically every weekend, and we made so many memories together at college. She became friends with my friends on my floor, and it felt right. Sure, we still had disagreements here and there but that's part of what a relationship is. It's not always smiles and kisses. There will be times where you and your partner fight and disagree on things. What matters is how you work through it TOGETHER.

I'm really glad that my girlfriend and I made long distance work out because I don't know where I would be right now or what I would be doing with myself.

Long distance isn't easy, but that doesn't mean you should end it right away when it gets tough. My advice to those couples going through that right now is this:

If you truly love each other, and you love what you have together, don't give up.

Sometimes the most beautiful things in life come with some obstacles along the way. Don't let those obstacles stop you.

Hope this article helped people out there. Always here if you need a friend.

On that note, I'll see you guys next week with a new topic.

Your Friend,

Al