I will say it again and again, long-distance is not easy. After doing long-distance for three years with my boyfriend, Fletcher, it has not become any easier. I’ve just been used to the distance now. One of the critical factors that makes a long-distance relationship last is communication. It is essential to have healthy communication to be on the same page. Below are three tips and tricks I have used for healthy communication between each other.
The most important tip I can give you is to communicate about everything, even if you don’t think it is essential. It is simple things like telling your person you have work from 2-7 p.m. so that you will be gone during those hours or saying you will do homework and aren’t on your phone. The communication to share where and what you are doing is essential not to leave the person wondering what you’re doing or if they think you are ignoring them when, in reality, you are simply at work.
Another important tip I will share is to communicate in different ways. It can get tiresome to text each other every single day, so find ways to change how you communicate. Try FaceTime for the evening, call each other on your drive home from work, and Snapchat each other. Changing the way you communicate with each other can help. It is incredible how much of a difference it makes when you can hear each other voices on the phone after a while. Fletcher and I try to FaceTime each other at least once a week so we can have scheduled time to sit down and talk to each other without any distractions, and it truly does help a lot.
The main thing that strong communication does in a long-distance relationship is help build trust in each other. Strong communication will also help eliminate those tiny pointless fights and not leave the other person wondering where you are. The better your communication is, the easier the long-distance will be. There needs to be a strong layer of trust in each other since you are miles apart for many days, so the trust needs to be strong. If you don’t have that trust, then everything will start to go downhill from there.
It is important to remember that getting a good flow with each other takes time. It will be challenging on day one of long distance, but it matters that you and your partner put in the time and work to make it work together. The only way to strengthen your communication is to communicate with each other. I know, shocking, right? Again, I am no long-distance expert, but after doing it for three-plus years, these tips and tricks have helped me along the way, and hopefully, they will help you as well!
