I was only supposed to be home for a few short months but it turned into almost two years. We were plunged into a long distant realtionship with many people telling us we weren't going to survive it. Despite the challenges we knew we would make it. Here are 5 ways to get through a long distant relationship.
Communicate: Perth is only an hour behind Seoul so we didn't have to deal with a horrible time difference. We talked on the phone ever single night, scheduled video calls, and texted each other about our day. From something as simple as, "I'm driving to McDonalds," to "Thinking about you," we made sure we communicated. Even when we didn't feel like it we communicated. "I'm tired today, so let's talk a bit later..." our priority was to make sure we knew how we felt, we never wanted the other person to be wondering.
Dates: I longed to hold his hand, or cuddle up on the sofa and just watch a movie together but we couldn't. Still, we had virtual date nights. Video calls, when we dressed up and imagined we were on a date.
Goals: This one is so important. We both knew exactly where our relationship was going. We knew exactly what we wanted and were working towards that. We had clearly defined our relationship goals and there wasn't any doubt that we were serious about each other, so being apart while horrible, made it bearable knowing that the end result was being together.
The end date: We had three plans about when we would see each other again. If plan A fell through then we would go to Plan B. We knew exactly when we were going to see each other so we had something to look forward to. We could count down to the day we would see other. We would often talk about seeing each other. It made it real and attainable, we didn't feel so lonely knowing that we would see each other soon.
Thinking about the other person: Over the nearly two years of being apart there was no doubt that we were thinking about each other. I was invited to hang out with his friends via zoom, he surprised me with a huge parcel filled with goodies all the way from Korea for my birthday, I dressed up in Bollywood clothes and sent him pictures (super cringe, no idea why I did this...I thought I was being cute and exotic, turns out it was just weird! :P) for his birthday I learnt how to play "Happy Birthday," on my keyboard I've had since the 90s, filmed it and sent it to him.
Being in a long distance realtionship was challenging and hard and we've promised never to do it again because we missed each other so much...but sometimes you can find yourself in this situation and you have to make the best of it.
From my experience, make sure you are in a stable realtionship before you embark on a long distance one. You have to trust your partner implicitly and have an end goal, a date set in place of when you two will meet again.
Also, keep thinking of meeting them! It keeps you going. Think of running into their arms at the aiport, hugging them, holding their hand, feeling them kiss you.
Aaron didn't sleep for two days prior to picking me up from the airport. He was a jittery mess and absolutely adorable. He met me with a big grin and a bouquet of beautiful flowers. When we walked out of the airport it was the best feeling in the world and it felt like I hadn't been apart from him at all.
Long distance is hard but not impossible. You can do it too!
I think these are all great tips. Distance is so hard on relationships but you can make them work with determination.
I think that communication is the key! It is important in all kinds of relationships. As I know that there are some people who live together, yet, do not communicate :(