People have always asked me what it's like to be in a "long distance relationship". For the past year and a half, my boyfriend and I have gone from being an hour apart, being 15 minutes apart, being 8 hours apart, being 15 minutes apart and being an hour apart all over again. I'm always asked if it's hard or if it's worth it to go through; my answer is always yes, for both. Having space in a relationship is healthy, it's always a good thing.
1. You're able to do your own thing.
When you're together all of the time, you just want to spend time together, hanging out, talking, etc. Your significant other can be distracting. Yes, I know, you love being with them. I love being around my boyfriend, but sometimes I have work that needs to get done. Since we go to different schools, this allows us to get things done like homework or extra circulars. We understand that both of us have obligations that have to be done and if that means we don't talk very much that day, it isn't a big deal.
2. You don't have to get tired of seeing each other.
I think this is the main issue that people disagree on when talking about having space in a relationship. I promise you, the two of you are going to get into a fight or one of you is just going to be in a bad mood one day and you're going to want space from that person. You can't always be together. Personally, I think if you're always together it can cause arguments. When you're apart, you're forced to have to communicate more. When I say communicate more, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to text or talk on the phone more, but it means that you have to be deliberate in how or what you say to your partner because you're unable to have a face to face conversation. When you're together all of the time, it can become boring. You've already gone on every date you can think of, you've already talked about everything there is to talk about. Being apart makes the time you actually are together special.
3. You have some alone time.
Sometimes, you just want to lay in bed by yourself, eat ice cream and watch Netflix. You want to be able to fart and not worry about it. You want to be able to need to take a shower because you stink, but continue to put it off because you want to watch "just one more" episode of Orange Is The New Black. You want to be alone and just relax, by yourself. When you're apart, it gives you time to do that. You need time to recharge yourself and take care of yourself before you can give your partner your time and attention when you're together.
4. You can spend more time with friends and family.
When you're apart, you are able to spend time with your friends and family. If you're always together, people tend to ignore their friends and family and not take the time to hang out with them. There's nothing wrong with wanting to spend time with your significant other, but hanging out with other people is still super important. It's all about divvying up your time appropriately.
5. You're able to stay true to you.
Sometimes when you're always together in a relationship, you can smother each other. You can lose who you are in the other person. Maybe you're not taking the time to do your favorite things anymore because you're always together. Maybe you're not spending much time with your friends anymore. The reason that your significant other fell for you, is because you are YOU. Without alone time, time with other people, etc. that can deteriorate. Your own experiences, opinions, etc. are lost. Without alone time, time with others, you become one unit instead of two individual, independent people. You have to stay true to you in order to be happy and feel satisfied and fulfilled.
