Long distance..help please

[jay-girl]

Me and my boyfriend have been dating for a little over 2 and a half years. We are very much in love, and very very very close. We both leave for college in 4 days, and are planning to stay together. He is only 2 hours away but it really hurts to know that i won't be seeing him as often as i do now. Does anyone have any advice that will make this less painful, and help us not grow apart?

thank youuu

[Tiana]

You've probably heard this a million and one times: long distance is very hard. But it's good that you and he are not too far apart. From experience, my advice would be to try to talk on the phone (IM if you have to) at least once a day or every other day, and visit each other when you can. Just make sure it's not always one person visiting the other, because that makes the visitor feel un-loved ! It's also really important to trust one another, and to have faith in the relationship and hold on through the rough times. I'm sure you have that down though since you've been together for such a long time! Let him know how much you love him and care about him all the time .. a few genuine, heartfelt words go a long way!

Hope this helped
Best of luck!!!

[WallyLlama]

There are some positives with an LDR... and it's important to remember that you can sit right next to someone and still be thousands of miles apart. On the other hand, you can have some distance and still feel VERY connected.

A lot of it is about communication... and with the available technology you should be able to stay in touch: cell phones, IM's (add cams if you can) and off-lines, emails. You might look at this as an opportunity to even further improve your relationship because you will learn to really talk and share with each other.

It IS hard. But you have to focus on what you have, not what you don't have. Express your feelings to each other, but don't make every conversation about missing each other and wanting to be together.

Since you are "only" two hours apart (it will seem a lot further no doubt), you might consider setting up a schedule so you can always have specific times to look forward to, again better than only thinking about the emptiness.

Also don't forget that this is shared pain. Don't let the fact that you miss him dominate the relationship or your conversations... he misses you too. Share, share, share.

If you are starting to suspect success is about sharing, you're right!