photo credit: Ella Kirk
It’s that time of year again when acceptance letters start rolling in for current seniors, and it seems like each one holds a path to their future. It’s also that time of year where seniors have to think about going out of state and having to say goodbye to their loved ones while they’re at college. Particularly, seniors in relationships will have a hard time choosing whether to continue as a long-distance relationship or just end it by the start of the next school year.
About 75 percent of college students in the United States were once in a long-distance relationship while around 25-50 percent of them are still in one, according to CNN news.
When bringing up the topic of long-distance relationships, most people seem to believe that they never work out and are never healthy. But there are many exceptions to this stereotype.
“For me, being in a long-distance relationship was hard financially because you had to travel back and forth a lot between places, and it’s costly. It’s also very lonely because you are not readily able to do all the things couples do, such as going out to eat or going on dates.” French Teacher Sarah Haynes said about her relationship with her husband, Social Studies Teacher Kevin Haynes.
For a healthy long-distance relationship, good communication is absolutely a necessity. Because people can’t see their partners every day or every month, there needs to be strong communication between the two of them to try and make up for the fact of not being close.
“It has forced both of us to step up in multiple aspects of our relationship, like communication and trust,” senior Bobby Drexel said. Drexel is in a relationship with 2023 graduate Kayla Sucharski, who is a freshman in college.
Commitment is a major part of being in a successful long-distance relationship, whether the people are in college or having a job.
“I would say the hardest part is making sure that your other things that are going on in your life aren’t causing you to lose focus in your relationship,” Student teacher Morgan Urmson said. She has been in a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend for a year and a half.
Significant others not only have to commit to be loyal but also commit their time and care for the other person while not being in close proximity to them, which can be emotionally draining.
“It helps you build a sense of trust with your partner because you’re not going to know what they’re doing every day, and that’s OK,” Urmson said.
Having a long-distance relationship would definitely be taxing on the people in it, especially incoming freshmen in college. For some people, it might be too much work to think about and provide small acts of love for someone far away while also juggling their new schedule.
“It’s a lot of time spent on the phone so maintaining the emotional connection is key. Being in different time zones can be tricky as well. For six months, my husband was six hours ahead of me so scheduling when to talk wasn’t always easy,” Haynes said.
Planning when the couple will see each other next helps continue the relationship positively and subdues the feelings of loneliness and hopelessness.
“It’s always difficult to be in a long-distance relationship when you can’t see the other person. I’d say that’s the worst part. In the summer, we would see each other multiple times a week. So, just for it to change at a snap of the finger, it sucks, and it was difficult,” Drexel said.
While of course there are some serious downsides to a long-distance relationship, it should be comforting to know that if the couple has a relationship built on trust, communication and commitment with the right person, they can make it through anything together.
“It helps you know that if I can love this person from 10 hours away that I can love them when they’re right next to me,” Urmson said. “If you can survive that you can survive anything.”
