Hi all, I thought that despite only having been in this relationship for half a year, I’ve learnt some very valuable techniques in ensuring that you are comfortable and content in the relationship.

With a little bit of context, my SO and I live 900 kilometres apart. We still however, granted that either of us have our driving licenses either; possess a rule that we cannot go beyond three weeks without at least seeing each other once. We are both the same age, 18, however as he moved from a foreign country he had to repeat a grade and unfortunately is only sitting his final year of high school now whilst I’m at my first year of university. With him occupied 5 days a week from 9-5, similar to my university schedule and then either of us working weekends, it’s truly a task to coordinate enough time to spend together. However, we’ve made it work. We apply that rule, call each other once a day as a minimum usually before bed to catch up on the day we had, help one another study or just vent, and coordinate in advance our dates to see one another. Mutuality is also key, I’ve found. I frankly wouldn’t know what I’d do in a LDR if I didn’t have the reciprocating effort of commuting to one another equally. The commute to either of our houses is a total 4 hours by public transport, so we inherently move in and leave things at one another’s places everytime we visit. Another token that helps us stay grounded is a journal we use. I write in this journal everytime I’m given it each time we see one another and we take turns returning home with it to fill it in. It helps us express when we’re lonely, or exhausted, emotionally drained or just to express love which is most frequent.

I also cannot stress to you enough that if you aren’t feeling the significance of their love regardless of distance, then you deserve better. We’ve planned the most romantic of dates and kept the spark alive so seamlessly that it’s inexcusable. For our half a year getaway we organised last week, he booked a gorgeous hotel we spent a night in, celebrated over drinks at a Cuban restaurant, had a late night 7 eleven snacks run, and bought one another stunning promise rings. Moreso, I was able to kick him out of the room for a moment to inflate some balloons, prepare some gifts I had bought and made him and surprised him.

You can do it, I know you all can.

Love, Jess.