Long distance relationships on the rise

Any relationship is hard to preserve when long distances are involved. When you are in high school, you have a list of friends. Once you move on with your life and continue on to college in a different city or state, those friends start to dwindle. It gets harder and harder to count the number of people you once called friends on one hand.

The same reason for this is why most long distance relationships don’t work. Effort must be factored into these situations. The more effort you put into your relationship, the longer it lasts.

The Center for the Study of Long Distance Relationships concluded that more than seven million couples in the United States are involved in a long distance relationship, 4.4 million are college students. 

Long distance relationships are becoming more popular due to job opportunities. Because of the failing economy, people are forced to go where ever the jobs are. 

According to David Coleman, the “Dating Doctor”, 90 percent of all long distant relationships end within a year. There are several reasons why this situation can lead to a relationship’s demise, such as infidelity, loneliness, jealousy, lack of stability and not enough effort. 

Infidelity is a touchy subject, but it is brought upon by lack of physical closeness. The best thing to do is visit as much as possible. However, this can get a little expensive. The alternative is to use technology to your advantage. Set up online dates with web cams. Seeing the person is better than just hearing their voice over the phone. Sometimes things that are said can be taken the wrong way, but with seeing their facial expressions nothing can be misinterpreted. 

Loneliness is inevitable, but keeping yourself busy with friends and family can be a great help. Make sure that every day has an activity. It is easy, as college students, to drown yourself in homework, but make sure you set some time aside to contact your significant other.

Jealousy can tie in with insecurities about your relationship. Trust is essential to overcoming these insecurities. The “what if he or she cheats or finds someone else” is going to come out, but you must fight it off. When you bring up these insecurities to your significant other, it can make the situation worse by instilling doubt into the relationship. This leads back to finding distractions with friends and family because the only time these insecurities arise is when you are alone pondering about the “what if” situations.

Lack of stability arises when the communication is inconsistent. Setting up times to talk or meet by way of web cam every day can help with this situation and form a sense of reliability. Sharing the events of each other's day can ease the tension of being apart.

Effort is key. Without effort you don’t have a relationship. Writing letters, calling, dating through web cam all takes effort. If the relationship means anything, there will be a common effort. Effort shows whether or not the relationship will last. Only you can decide whether your relationship becomes just another statistic.