GOING THE DISTANCE

Long distance relationships can be easy if you think life is better without the need to fight over a toothpaste cap with your boyfriend. owever, this kind of relationship is tormenting and painful if you can’t live with a toothpaste cap without fighting over it with someone you deeply love. Long distance relationships spell challenge. This is where your honesty, faithfulness, loyalty, trust and fidelity is tested. Your ability to love is called into question.

You may have heard of hundreds of stories about failed long distance relationships. Some long distance relationships last for two weeks while others for months. There are others who make it last for six years just to break up in the end.But there are couples who plan on reuniting and to finally say goodbye to the distance they’ve endured for years.

If it was 1943, expect that a long distance relationship is about waiting for yellow envelopes informing you that your boyfriend or husband died in the war. In 1996, long distance relationships were about safe white envelopes and postage stamps. Today, a long distance relationship has increased its survival rate from slim to big because of web cams, telephones, cellular phones, instant messengers and the Internet.

What does this mean? These technological breakthroughs are not just for business transactions and research. They are also for people like you who need to communicate to your significant other who is away from you. Communication is always a must no matter how near or far you are from your partner, but it should be strictly observed in long distance relationships. Update each other about what is happening in your lives. Exchange messages and remind each other of your love everyday.

Sometimes, words are not enough to let your partner feel your presence. Take advantage of technology to ease the pain of missing each other. You can exchange pictures to see your new haircuts or how you’ve lost the weight you've been working on. Save the photos in a folder and look at these whenever you feel sad about missing your beloved. You can also print out the photos and make a scrapbook. Remind yourself about your love story by checking on the scrap book once in a while. The pictures can help you remember that you have a boyfriend or girlfriend to come back to, months or years from now.

It is hard to be positive with distance between you and your partner, but you need to see this as a chance for personal development. A lot of couples who live closely to each other fight over petty things. Some guys or girls even break up with their partners because of a classic reason you’ve heard before: needing space. With distance, you own all the space in the world. If you have developed a more mature personality from the time and space of distance, a great relationship awaits you. On a lighter note, don’t you think a relationship is more exciting if you have a chance to miss each other?

Now that your partner is away from you, you can no longer control him or her the way you used to when he or she was just a few blocks near you. You can’t see where he or she goes on Friday nights. You have no idea what he or she does after work. Long distance relationships do not work only if you are suspicious and insecure. A long distance relationship is not for you if you have trust issues. Trust is the challenge you have to live up to while your partner is away. It is the toughest rule to practice but the most important ingredient to make a long distance relationship work.

In other words, don't be afraid to go for LDR. What doesn't work for others may work well for you!