Long Distance Relationships

As humans with five major senses, we need human contact. We thrive on touching, hugging, interacting, and sharing. A long-distance relationship or long-distance romantic relationship is an intimate relationship between partners who are geographically separated from one another. Maintaining a long-distance relationship for various reasons may be difficult. But the truth remains that every situation comes with advantages. Long distance relationships have various advantages such as having an advantage on a greater emotional intimacy. It allows you to learn a lot about a person when you remove the distraction of ‘sexual tension’. The more you try to connect emotionally, the greater the intimacy you feel. You don’t just like each other…you fall in love faster, you feel emotions more intensely, and you long to be closer with them. Sometimes it takes a while to reach this peak in typical relationships where you don’t talk as much. Longer conversations bring about deeper bonding. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Relationships that keep you thousands of miles apart allow you to also improve communication between you and your spouse. It’s a challenge to communicate when you are always together in the same house. Sometimes body language or other non-verbal signals communicates information or mood. So what happens is you stop actively talking and just sort of learn to coexist. But when you’re online you have to be CREATIVE and communicative. You have to express yourself more without the convenience of gesturing, humming or using other physical signals. Everything is explicitly stated and this helps you talk more.

Emotional intelligence is not easy to come by when you live together tensions are high. Arguments escalate quickly because of emotion and defensive feelings. But when you’re communicating via text or phone, you get distance from that intense emotion. You’re able to take a step back, think it over, and stop typing or calling. You don’t immediately go on the defensive because of a physical argument. You can take a practical approach and discuss the problem, while listening to your partner. Then you can act and avoid making the issue about conflict. It’s about negotiation and compromise.

Most importantly, you appreciate physical dates all the more so. The distance allows you to miss each other. That’s the point, right? You’d rather be in each other’s arms than having to keep your distance. But being patient and waiting for the right time to see each other actually works to your favor. When you do finally meet and do something active and fun, the memories are enhanced. You feel more emotion and enjoy meeting face to face all the more so. What a great way to add value to your future date, by taking a break and building it up in anticipation!

Finally, you have more time to devote to achieving your own personal goals. That is a very important step in creating a strong bond of equal partners – that both of you having personal goals and motivation to complete those goals. Having a purpose in life, apart from the romance itself, is a sign of a strong union. You have an equal partnership and work towards self-improvement on your own. This makes both of you stronger as individuals and that creates a more team-focused partnership in love.