I was one of those people who brought their high school relationship with them to college. During that entire summer after high school graduation, I was constantly worried about whether or not my relationship would last. He was my high school sweetheart, and we were so in love.
The night before I had to leave my hometown and make my way to NC State, he gave me a promise ring, and I thought that we were going to last forever.
Nope.
Things went left before August could transition into September. There were so many things that went wrong such as communication, trust, respect, etc. Once I decided I was tired of all of the hurt and disrespect it was April and we were done.
When I pretend to have music playing in my earbuds, I hear people talk about their relationships and question whether or not they believe their relationship is strong enough to last regardless of distance.
It can last if you really want it to. It's okay to have doubts about what might happen once you two are farther apart than you're used to. It's okay that you might not be able to be with each other on Valentine's Day. The thing about being in a long-distance relationship is that communication is key.
While communication in a relationship is a must, it's even more important when you're not able to see each other as frequently as one would like. Certain technology was made for a reason, aka Facetime, Skype, Snapchat, etc.
Another factor in a long-distance relationship is making time for each other and trust. I know college life can get hectic and things come up, which could mess up plans, but that doesn't mean you can't find time in both of your schedules for each other.
If your anniversary or Valentine's Day is in the middle of the week, plan something for that weekend. Trust can make or break the relationship as well. If you are always suspicious of your significant other and questioning their every move, things can fall apart.
Don't expect it to be easy. There will be times where you really miss each other. There will be times where your relationship will be tested by outside forces and you just have to know that either you can trust each other to be able to stay faithful and honest or you could turn into someone who doesn't care if they are with someone and decides to just do whatever they want to do.
You have to be able to make sacrifices and compromise. Things may not always go as planned but you have to realize that that's life. Nothing ever goes according to plan.
If it did, I'd still be an Animal Science major.
Everyone will tell you that "Things will be okay" and that "You guys are already so strong, distance won't matter." I'm telling you right now, you shouldn't listen to those people. They are not the ones in your relationship and they aren't the ones who have to deal with the distance. The distance will test the strength of your relationship and yourselves.
Even if it the two of you break up, that's fine. You tried your best and in the end, it just wasn't meant to be. You will be fine. You will move on and learn that there are others out there and that you'll heal.
