Long-distance rela­tion­ships can be a very dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tion to experience.

When it all is said and done, is it really worth it? Is it worth it to see that other per­son just once or twice a month? Well, they say one of two things: dis­tance makes the heart grow fonder, or out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

I believe dis­tance does make the heart grow fonder. The longer you go with­out see­ing some­one, the more you cher­ish the few times you do get to see them.

Since mov­ing away to school I have been in a long-distance rela­tion­ship. There’s a three and a half hour drive sep­a­rat­ing me from some­one I used to spend almost every sin­gle day with. I am not going to tell you it was easy at first, because it wasn’t.

You have to find means of com­mu­ni­ca­tion to keep you together. I have tried every­thing, because sur­viv­ing on two-hour phone calls is going to get old and because your par­ents are not going to be very happy when they get that $400 phone bill; trust me, I have had it hap­pen twice.

So after you get over the issue of how to com­mu­ni­cate, you have to find ways to make it eas­ier on your­self. I have found watch­ing the same movies or TV shows at the same time helps a lot; it’s almost as if you’re together. And go back a few years and send hand-written let­ters, every­one likes get­ting mail.

It’s going to get hard, you just have to remem­ber why you’re doing it. Some peo­ple will not be able to han­dle it, oth­ers will be just fine. If you care about that other per­son enough you will have no issues.

I believe dis­tance makes the heart grow fonder. It teaches you how to live on your own with­out some­one con­stantly by your side and it also teaches you how to take noth­ing for granted.

Luckily, liv­ing in the world we do today, you can see each other almost any­time you want through a com­puter. No, it’s noth­ing like actu­ally being there but it helps. I believe it is worth it and dis­tance can only make you stronger.

If you care about some­one that much, dis­tance is just like any prob­lem you encounter and adjust to. You will learn to appre­ci­ate those moments you do spend together, and even those $400 phone bills will be worth it in the end. n