Finding Happiness in Long Distance Relationship

Published on Campus Magazine Issued 38 Page 27
Edited on 31 July 2021

When a simple love story falls under the “Long Distance” category, it can become complicated, especially with discouraging comments from your family and friends. Even without the distance, the relationship can be rather challenging. A long-distance relationship cannot get any more challenging with the ‘extra miles’, cultural differences, and time differences. However, there are perks and fun parts to being in one.

Communication gets creative

Communication is key to a long-lasting long-distance relationship. Being thousands of miles apart, it is not easy to sense body language, forcing us to develop open and concise communication skills. Daily messages like “morning” and “goodnight” can get rather boring, so in order to spice up the conversation, pictures, videos or event emoticons replaced the mundane vocabulary. Since words are our core communication tool, our antenna in identifying emotions within sentences is far more developed than most normal couples. It’s like we’re honing our skills to ‘detect’ lies in messages.

More than just being physical

There is no friends with benefits in a long-distance relationship. Being with your partner only a few times a year can be rather torturous for people who enjoy hugs and cuddles like myself, but without the physical element, it focuses us on building out a relationship on something else – our emotions. We share stories about our past and our current and future situations with each other. it keeps us close, as though as we are going through each other’s lives.

Time and commitment

In a long-distance relationship, there’s more ‘me’ time than ‘we’ time. we have more time to spend with our friends and family, so our ties with them are not broken ( as is common with many new couples). Couples may struggle with distance (and time differences), but being able to spend time with friends and family will help you deal with those issues. Being in a long-distance relationship is not easy, and many sacrifices must be made, including spending a lot of cash. Either he’d make a transit in Singapore to meet me, or I’d have to travel to him.

Patience, patience and more patience

There’s a lot of waiting in a long-distance relationship: waiting for replies, waiting for the next meet-up, waiting for the next Skype time, etc. That’s why there’s a need for plenty of patience. Even if you’re an impatient person, a long-distance relationship can very well condition you to become patient – because love forces you to. With all the waiting, long-distance relationship couples are more appreciative in general.

Being appreciative

It is human nature to take things for granted – we tend to be less appreciative of the things around us when they become part of us. In a long-distance relationship, we always have something to appreciate; simple things like holding hands or hugging become something to look forward to. Like many couples, we get frustrated when our other half doesn’t reply to our texts or pick up our calls; however, I have become more appreciative of the little things he’d do. Even picking up my call in the middle of the night would warm my heart. it’s always those little things that keep the love alive.

Preparation to survive anything

If you can survive a long-distance relationship, you can survive anything! Our relationship began right off as long-distance. We have not experienced being ‘gapless’, thus, we are easily taken away by our imagination. Picture a perfect life is easy, however, life is much more complicated. There are many things we have to overcome and pull through, and even if we did pull through, the outcome may not be as perfect as we think it would be.

Just like any other relationship, a long-distance relationship requires commitment and trust, and this can be as romantic, loving, complicated and blessed too.