Spending many days sulking waiting for someone. The perfect guy.  You spend hours on the phone every night. Receiving letters every week and you finally feel like you’re flying. You start having this nervous butterfly feeling. You realize that you are falling in love with him, then you start dating. Later on, you realize that the relationship is hard to manage because you are miles apart. 

According to dictionary. com, a long-distance relationship is a typically romantic relationship, in which the two people live far enough apart that they cannot see each other often.   One misconception people have with LDRs is that it’s not a real relationship because you can’t meet physically.  

These relationships are hard to manage because you never know what that person is up to or what they are doing. Since you can’t really see each other, you have to learn to communicate. 

Talking every night can be difficult since your partner may not have the time to talk with you often which could lead to a potential breakup. 

Long-distance relationships can still be a great experience even if they are difficult to manage. UACHS, Junior Ameenah Lawrence explains why long-distance relationships are difficult.  

“ A long-distance relationship can be hard to manage, especially because one person may feel lonely and the other is unable to comfort them,” said Lawrence.

One of the first stages in a relationship is the “talking phase.” According to refinery29, “the talking stage is an opportunity to find out about a potential partner, explaining that it’s a time to see if your likes and dislikes are compatible if you can communicate well, and if there are any red flags that you should be aware of.” 

The talking stage could last from one to seven months. It’s all just to make sure that this person is someone you want to commit to. A senior who would like to remain anonymous believes that the talking stage is critical. 

“The talking stage is important to me because it’s me getting to know the person I want to spend the rest of my life with,” said Anonymous. “ Ever since we’ve been in the talking stage, I fell in love with my person every day even when they cry or talk about random things.” 

With long-distance relationships, there are many strange factors but with every relationship, there is love, commitment, loyalty and communication. There are many ways to keep the relationship strong even if it’s just a simple letter or a package. Even when you love someone from a distance, you are close in each other’s hearts.