You’ve met someone, they are striking to you and you connect perfectly. However, they live miles away from you. Still, the spark is so strong, you want to progress with the relationship.
Do you hop onto the long distance relationship bandwagon or you decide to call it quits before you splash your heart too much in?
Here are some of the things you’ll need to consider before plunging into a long distance relationship.
1. Identify if it’s open or exclusive
Since you’ll be living separately for a while, you need to speak openly how you want your relationship to be. When your partner is away from you, are you two allowed to see other people and get into flings with them?
Communicating about this exclusivity or inclusion will save your relationship from unnecessary complications from external parties.
2. Discuss your expectations on who to handle what
Shall you share your finances, shall you handle planning for future trips? Are you going to invest together?
Since long distance relationships do not subscribe to the normal day to day activities that couples staying together do, you have to know what to expect of your partner. Discuss these in depth so that you assess whether your expectations will be met or not.
3. Know it will be demanding in communication
Before you get into a long distance relationship, you need to realize that communication will be a great binding factor. You’ll spend more on airtime and on video calls as you communicate.
Is that method good and workable for you? If you’re the type who only believes in face to face communication only, you’ll require to move off from the relationship sooner. This is because, long distance relationships stretch someone.
Furthermore, you realize that you’ll be unable to keep tabs with your partner which is very important when getting into a long distance relationship.
4. Identify how you’ll solve conflicts
Get to study your partner and his or her conflict resolution methods. Considering you won’t have the luxury to meet all the time physically, does your partner hide or avoid conflict?
Do they block your calls and go missing in action every time you’re almost disagreeing? What is their body language on video calls? Are they abusive?
Get to see these signs beforehand during the friendship period. It guides how far your relationship will go.
5. Assess your comfort in missing out on your partner’s life
You’ll need to come to terms with the fact that you shall be missing out on each other’s lives. Since you can’t spend the nights together, or see each other daily, let alone go on dates, this is an important thing to note.
Are you comfortable with your partner hanging out with their other friends more or you’ll constantly be feeling jealous?
Long distance relationships have their unique set of challenges. That’s not to mean that they don’t or can’t work. It is possible to navigate through the seasons when you have a commuted and understanding partner. The answers lie with the two of you.
