What is your opinion on Long Distance Relationships?

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I met my husband on Facebook almost 10 years ago. I lived in the USA, he lived in Australia. Before I moved to Australia, we would visit eachother for 3 months at a time occasionally. Though the last two years of me being in America his anxiety got really bad and was unable to visit me.

Honestly long distance relationships aren't that difficult, but like the person above me has said, I think you have to be the type of person for it.

 

[Chibiusa]

They only survive if both parties are in agreement of a clear end goal. No la-la-land of unstable, in the air, hopes and dreams. Both people need to be aware of the pain that comes with it, and that it never gets easier until you have reached the end goal of being together. Both people need to be okay with going months and months without touch. If you're someone who is "needy" in that sense, don't even think about entering one of these. Both people need to fully commit to one person leaving everything behind for the other person, and the person who has to do that needs to be 100% comfortable with doing so.

It will not work otherwise.

I entered an LDR when I was 17 and got married to that person at 25 (we met on a forum dedicated to a game). We saw each other every 3-4 months, ish. There was a period of time where we were broken up for almost two years because it was evident we had a lot of growing up to do. We saw other people, experienced life not glued to each other on our screens, and found each other again. This time, however, with a clear end goal and having matured as human beings. This doesn't always happen though and is honestly quite rare.

One perk of being in an LDR is that you become strongly emotionally connected to the person before being able to touch them. It also teaches a lot of patience and communication skills in the relationship, since that's all you have.

 

[Xeleron]

As others have said, they can work if both people are willing to put in the time, effort, and know how to compromise.

Personally as someone who's been cheated on, I don't think I would ever enter a romantic ldr... it requires so much trust, trust I don't think I would have in that situation.

I do have several long distance friendships with people who I only get to see once a year or maybe every two years and eveytime we see each other it's like time had stopped and we're continuing right where we left off last time!

 

[Stalfos]

Hard to say. I don't think I could build a relationship that way. However, if something happened and my girlfriend and I would have to live far apart, then I'd obviously do everything I could to make it work.

But I do love the intimacy in a physical relationship. Not just the touching but also the mundane, "boring" stuff like cooking a meal together. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

[Neb]

As someone with mild autism, long distance relationships have always sounded appealing. I wouldn’t have to pay attention to body language or other non-verbal cues. It’d also be a way to work around dating in my small town. At the same time, a long distance relationship would create some problems. Being able to see my partner would be an endless cycle of anticipating visits. The thought of doing that year after year sounds exhausting. On top of that, I’d be unable to communicate with them if the power or Wi-Fi went off.

With all of that in mind, I would only agree to a long distance relationship if there was already a strong connection. LDRs seem to rely almost exclusively on mutual emotional attraction. If that isn’t there, the relationship probably wouldn’t last.

 

[Chris]

My partner and I are 250 miles apart. We meet up approx every six weeks to spend a long weekend together. Unfortunately we both have contractual obligations in different cities right now so closing that gap is going to take time and patience (and the distance may get larger before it gets smaller) but we are both determined to make it happen. I don't particularly like being in an LDR but we are doing the best we can in the meantime.

I posted this a month before lockdown and losing my job. We had to cancel our plans to meet in April. We now haven't seen each other in four months and definitely won't be able to anytime soon. They are also moving further away soon (so it will be nearer 400 miles) due to a fantastic opportunity that I fully encouraged them applying for and accepting. It's only for a year but it's going to make travelling more expensive and we're both going to be busier. We'll make it work but seeing each other less is going to be a drag.