Evening readers!
Long distance relationships are often the norm these days. According to iVillage, more than 14 million people are in long distance relationships and we're most definitely over the "it'll never work" comments made by bitchy people we don't care about.
My boyfriend and I have been engaging in a LDR (apparently this is the technical lingo for a long distance relationship! Inventive.) for around 5 months now. The reason for putting all those miles between us is because I moved back home after university to try and find a job, while he still has one year left. Of course, while it hasn't always been plain sailing, it's going pretty well. We see each other every weekend and make use of texts/skype/phonecalls to make life a little easier. It could be worse.
HOWEVER, there have been some aspects of being apart from each other that have taken me by surprise or that I hadn't thought about at all! So without further ado, here are the five things they didn't tell you about long distance relationships
1. You will need to change your phone contract.
4. You will want to know what he/she had for lunch.
Its the little things that make you feel closer to your boyfriend/girlfriend. Finding out what they had for lunch, what time they woke up, what they're reading and other bits and bobs, are things I never really used to be hugley interested in. Now, they're important to me because if I can't be with him then I can at least envisage what his day has been like. Kind of like a well-meaning stalker.
5. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, but that doesn't mean you won't bicker.
Long distance relationships are often the norm these days. According to iVillage, more than 14 million people are in long distance relationships and we're most definitely over the "it'll never work" comments made by bitchy people we don't care about.
My boyfriend and I have been engaging in a LDR (apparently this is the technical lingo for a long distance relationship! Inventive.) for around 5 months now. The reason for putting all those miles between us is because I moved back home after university to try and find a job, while he still has one year left. Of course, while it hasn't always been plain sailing, it's going pretty well. We see each other every weekend and make use of texts/skype/phonecalls to make life a little easier. It could be worse.
HOWEVER, there have been some aspects of being apart from each other that have taken me by surprise or that I hadn't thought about at all! So without further ado, here are the five things they didn't tell you about long distance relationships
It doesn't matter if you have 500 minutes and unlimited texts (or more!), being in an LDR (yeah!) means that you will run out of minutes and you will run out of texts - I want to call my boyfriend the minute I wake up, before I go to sleep and everything in between. By the end of the month, we've both run out of minutes and have to resort to tactically ignoring each other until Skype time. The solution? Get more minutes. No money? Download whatsapp!
2. You won't be late anymore.
Dispute this if you will, but I maintain that since beginning our long distance adventure, we've both become better at timekeeping. No longer does he have to buy me a H&M scarf to make up for missing the Safari Park, no longer do I have to tell him to come over an hour later as I'm washing my hair. I'm not sure why, but it's probably because we're so excited to see each other that we're early, if anything!
3. Life becomes easier to juggle.
My friends and I are staunch believers in mates before dates; however dates are also important. So is work. And going to the gym. And spending time with family. And starting new hobbies. A positive outcome of long distance relationships is that you have more time to juggle and organise. For me, weekend time is boyfriend time so I have the week days to see friends, cook for my family and also find excuses not to go to the gym.
Its the little things that make you feel closer to your boyfriend/girlfriend. Finding out what they had for lunch, what time they woke up, what they're reading and other bits and bobs, are things I never really used to be hugley interested in. Now, they're important to me because if I can't be with him then I can at least envisage what his day has been like. Kind of like a well-meaning stalker.
5. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, but that doesn't mean you won't bicker.
Of course I miss my boyfriend and treasure the time we have together, however there will always be days when I'm in a bad mood. There will be days when I want to listen to The Saturdays and he wants to listen to Frank Ocean. We don't agree on everything. We're still the same people, distance or not. And that's not a bad thing!
Voila. These are my delightful insights into long distance relationships and how they work in real life!
What are your experiences of living away from your boyfriend/girlfriend & what have you discovered in the process?
What are your experiences of living away from your boyfriend/girlfriend & what have you discovered in the process?
xox | Lauren
