As this winter break is coming to an end, and many of my friends have been separated from their significant others for these past few weeks, I thought giving my own advice on long-distance relationships was important. Only three months into my relationship with my now fiancé, we were separated for three months over the summer as he lived in Texas, and I in Wisconsin. While I am not going to say it was a walk in the park by any means, there were definitely positive things that happened out of our time apart. Here are some of the tips and tricks that worked well in my relationship. P.S. Keep in mind that every LDR is different, so use what works, and forget what doesn't.

Modern technology.

Can we all agree that modern technology is incredibly amazing for long-distance relationships? We were so lucky to be able to text each other every day and talk on the phone sometimes, but our best experiences were over Skype. By Skyping we really focused on communicating with each other and listening to each other since we couldn't be together physically, and I believe that it only made our relationship that much stronger. In addition to just talking, we tried to do "dates" over Skype. One of our favorites was having me read "The Fault in Our Stars" out loud and then talking
about it, and we managed to finish the whole book! It was such a fun way to spend time with each other without focusing on the distance between us.

Bring back the old.

So you know how your parents or grandparents would say, "In my days we couldn't spend hours on the telephone and the only way to talk to each other was through letters?" Well, take a note from their book, and try it for yourself! I always loved getting letters in the mail from my (then) boyfriend, and it was something that each of us could physically hold that reminded us of the other person. That being said, we tried to spice things up a little in our letters. We decided to do a Mad Libs story, and I had him give me all the words and then I put it into the story and sent a copy back to him, and it was so hysterical and definitely something I would want to do again!

Remember, there is an end date.

I myself, am guilty for catastrophizing about the most minuscule events. I thought that when my boyfriend and I had to do a long-distance relationship that we wouldn't be able to talk at all over the summer, and that it wouldn't feel the same when we saw each other again, that we wouldn't be strong enough for it. As soon as the long-distancing started, I realized that sure, it was hard, but it wasn't going to last the rest of my life, and there is a date where the two of you will be back together, and (hopefully) stronger through your time apart.

Imagine your reunion.

I must admit, on the days where I felt lonely and just missed my boyfriend a lot, I would think about how I would feel when we were reunited again. I imagined myself getting a huge hug from him, not wanting to let go, with a smile from ear to ear. I recommend watching some airport reunion videos on YouTube (but take out the tissues first), and then let your own imagination run wild and remember that when you two are back together again, it will all be so incredibly worth it.