Whether you were BFFs as kids going off to college in different states or besties in college graduating, long-distance friendships are pretty common. And now, technology has made staying in touch so much easier. Long gone are the days when people wrote letters to each other that took a week to arrive. We now live in the time of instant messages, texting, Snapchat, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Since I graduated from college last year, I've experienced both long-distance relationships after high school and college. It's definitely an adjustment.
I don't know about you, but constant communication on multiple platforms stresses me out!
It's so overwhelming to see 5 Snapchats, 20 text messages, and 7 Instagram DMs from your friend. Don't get me wrong - it's super nice of them to think of you. It's also a little much to stay in such constant contact like that. Long-distance friendship is definitely different than an in-person relationship - you don't want to overwhelm or smother the other person.
Though you don't want to talk too much, you still want to make sure you talk often enough that you feel like you're still friends. For me, I like to be consistent about my time with long-distance friends. We usually plan a time to talk at least once a week whenever we can. You want to make sure you agree on how often you want to talk. If one of you feels neglected because you don't text every day but the other one doesn't want to talk as much, you'll end up being resentful towards each other and may not even be friends in a week.
One of the most important things: let them know you still care about them even if you can't express that in person.
It's so easy to slip away from friendships when you can't see each other in person all the time. One way to keep that from happening is to still show them love and care in any way you can even though you're not with them physically. At least for me, quality time shows me that my friend really cares because they take the time out of their day to be with me.
Quality is always better than quantity.
I do my best to make sure whenever I spend time with my long-distance friend that I'm not distracted by other things. I call her a lot when I'm driving in the car or going on a walk, but if I can't give her my full attention, I don't want to talk. I want to make sure I can give her quality time. That's the best thing I can do besides being in person with her.
