When your relationship is stretched over a long distance, it can be difficult to cope with. Many people worry that the relationship will crumble without a close proximity and the ability to see each other often.
While there is no way to know if a relationship will last forever, there are some steps one can take to help keep the relationship happy and healthy, giving you and your partner a greater chance of living happily ever after.
Will My Long-Distance Relationship in High School Last?
There are never any guarantees for any relationship to last, whether that be a long-distance relationship or a relationship in which one sees their partner every day.
The greatest way to maintain a strong and healthy relationship is by trust and communication.
Fortunately, with social media, texting, and FaceTime, communication over long distance relationships is easier now than ever before.
The ways in which you choose to communicate with each other don’t matter near as much as what you are communicating to each other. Keeping the line of communications open will be crucial.
Things to Consider About Your Long-Distance Relationship
Setting clear boundaries around things like communication and visitation will help prevent future miscommunications and disagreements, which can be crucial when your time together is limited. A few questions to consider about your long-distance relationship include:
How often are you going to communicate?
What times will you both be available to talk? Will you be texting all day and calling all night? Will you text only after school and talk on free nights? High school schedules can vary greatly, depending on one’s extracurriculars and social calendar.
Communicating the best communication schedule for both of you will help prevent anyone from feeling neglected by the other.
How often will you visit each other and how will you divide it up?
Whether you are hours apart or in completely different time zones, you will want to discuss who will visit who and when. Will you be taking turns on visiting each other? Will one person have more time to make visits?
Will the cost of visiting each other be split?
Discussing how the cost of visiting will be split will be crucial to prevent resentment or arguments in the future. Will you split the cost of travel evenly? Or does one partner have greater means to pay for the visit? This can be crucial to keeping open communication and can be great practice for discussing finances in the future.
Tips for Making Your Long-Distance Relationship Work
Now that we have considered the more complex areas of a long-distance relationship, we will now discuss some tips for keeping yours healthy, happy, and thriving.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Communication is key for any relationship, but it is even more important for long distance relationships. Talking about your dreams, your worries, your happy moments, and your days will prove to be so important to your relationship in the long run.
Develop Clear Boundaries and Expectations
Developing clear boundaries and expectations is essential to any relationships, although it is even more essential to long distance relationships. Discuss behaviors that bother each other, what boundaries each of you has in the relationship, and things you expect from your partner. Developing an understanding of each other’s limitations, expectations, pet-peeves, boundaries, and more will ensure you are not unintentionally causing each other pain,
Utilize the Technology of Today
We live in an age that allows us to communicate with distant loved ones better than ever. Utilize that technology. Facetime each other. Send a quick text to let your partner know you are thinking of them. Share memes to make each other laugh. There are a multitude of ways to keep in contact with your long-distance partner these days, which allows your relationship a greater chance than ever at survival.
Talk About Your Future Together
Talking about your dreams, what colleges you wish to attend, your future business endeavors, and where you dream of living will allow the two of you to make guided decisions on what a future together will look like.
Trust Each Other
Without trust, your relationship will be doomed from the start. Nobody wants to have to walk on eggshells in their relationship.
Unfortunately, long distance relationships can fuel insecurities and distrust. Maintaining good communication without it turning into excessive communication can be a great way to keep insecurities at bay.
Be Trustworthy
When your partner is not around, it can be easy to stray. However, doing so will ruin the foundation of your relationship- breaking the trust that acts as the framework of a healthy relationship. Stay loyal to your partner and be honest with them about everything.
Have a Schedule
It is important to continue living your own life. However, it is also important to ensure your partner still has an important role in your life. Because of this, creating and sticking to a schedule for texting, calling, visiting, and talking to each other can allow the two of you to stay a significant part of each other’s lives with clear expectations.
Don’t Stop Living Your Life
Yes, it can be hard to have your partner a long distance away, but you cannot stop living your own life. Continue to hang out with friends. Continue your extracurricular activities. Continue doing your best in school. Continue having fun. Your partner should be doing the same. Every healthy relationship requires both partners to have their own lives outside of the relationship. It is crucial.
Final Thoughts
Long distance relationships can certainly be difficult. It is hard to not be able to see your partner every day. It is hard to be far away from each other. It is hard to not know what your partner is doing.
Yes, long distance relationships are difficult, but they are not impossible. Continuing to enjoy and live your own life, trusting in your partner, and keeping an open line of communication will give your long-distance relationship the greatest chance of survival.
