Tips and advice for couples managing distance, including communication, trust, and staying connected.
There was a stretch last year where my boyfriend and I talked every single day and I still felt like I barely knew him. We were reporting our days to each other, not actually sharing them. Talking on the phone is not the same as feeling close to someone. I learned that the hard way … Read more
For our first eight months, a virtual date meant both of us on video saying so what else is new. It was not a date, it was a status meeting with worse lighting. The fix was not a better app or a faster connection. It was giving the call something to do besides staring at … Read more
A bad long distance day does not usually start with a fight. Mine started with a dropped call, a gray sky, and a coworker showing me her engagement ring. By six that evening I was convinced the whole relationship was a mistake. By nine the next morning I thought it was fine, which tells you … Read more
Month seven was when I nearly quit. Not because anything went wrong, but because nothing was changing and I was tired of being brave about it. I remember sitting in my car outside the grocery store doing math on how many more months of this I had left. The number was big and my patience … Read more
For the first year of my long distance relationship, my version of self-care was a face mask and a bottle of wine on a Friday. It looked like caring for myself and it was really just numbing a Friday. Real self-care turned out to be less pretty and much more useful. It looked like keeping … Read more
Loneliness hit me hardest on a Tuesday, never on a Saturday. I had braced myself for empty weekends, but it was the middle of the week that got me. My boyfriend lived fourteen hundred miles away and my life looked full on paper. I had friends, a job I liked, and an apartment that still … Read more
The real signs your long distance partner is being faithful are small and boring, and here is what I learned to watch for during our first year apart.
The exact things that helped me stop spiraling at midnight in my long distance relationship, including a twenty minute timer and one very boring question.
Honest, specific ways I handle missing my partner every day in a long distance relationship, from naming the ache to booking the next flight.
How I handled insecurity in my long distance relationship without letting it turn every quiet night into a fight.
