Are Long-Distance Relationships Successful?
A long-distance relationship can be scary, but it can be a success if you are prepared for it.
A long-distance relationship can be successful if you have a plan to make it work for a specific period, maintain healthy and effective communication and visit each other frequently. A successful relationship helps you and your partner achieve your personal goals as well as common relationship goals.
Successful long-distance relationships are not predetermined by statistics. It’s up to each partner in every relationship to make it work. In this article, we’ll explore what is a long-distance relationship, what it takes to have one, and how to make it successful.
What Is a Successful Long-Distance Relationship?
To answer this question, first of all, let us agree on what is a long-distance relationship? A long-distance relationship is a period of a romantic relationship where people are separated by a geographical distance.
The long-distance may be at the beginning of a relationship online, or it may come to couples who are already in a relationship. Some couples, for example, have to live separately for some time because of college or job relocation.
Being in a long-distance relationship means you are going to be in a romantic relationship with a person whom you can’t see every day. This means your physical intimacy will be reserved for special occasions.
The way you communicate with your partner is also different and limited to written and verbal communication. To make your long-distance relationship work, you should make a plan on how often you can see each other. You should also agree on how and how often you will keep in touch while away.
A successful long-distance relationship is the one that helps you and your partner achieve your goals. Both personal and relationship related.
To have a successful relationship, you need to know why you are in this relationship, the reason for it to be long-distance, and how long it’ll last before you can be together.
How Successful Are Long-Distance Relationships?
Long-distance relationships are as successful as couples make them. You could look up statistics on how successful are long-distance relationships, but they don’t mean much. A lot of people treat their long-distance relationships as they would a regular one. Some, try to make them last as long as they can, regardless of the suffering it brings.
Some couples go a long way to survive a long-distance relationship, even when feeling sad and frustrated most of the time. While they may do it in the name of commitment, it sort of defeats the idea of being in a relationship, which is sharing and connecting.
The truth is that long-distance relationships can work and they can be successful. But, they aren’t meant to last a long time nor can they replace a relationship when partners live together. At some point, the lack of physical intimacy, misunderstandings, and doubts take their toll.
Some couples break up because partners grow apart or their feelings change over time. Other relationships fail when people don’t know how to handle a long-distance relationship. If your feelings change or you’d rather be with someone else, you should end your relationship. But, it is more unfortunate if you give up on your relationship with a person you love when there are ways you can make it work.
Are Long-Distance Relationships more Successful?
Many couples see a long-distance relationship as a regular relationship. But, relationships are only as real as the person in front of you. Long-distance relationships can be healthy and successful if they last for a few months.
A successful long-distance relationship requires some work and commitment. But if your relationship isn’t working, you should understand why. In a long-distance relationship, problems can either be caused by the relationship itself or by the long-distance.
Whenever you have doubts or mixed feelings, talk to your partner, and make sure they know that they can talk to you as well.
If you learn that the problem might be due to the distance, then zoom in on which aspect of the distance it is. Maybe you need to talk more or maybe you need to have a bit more space to do your things. If you need to see each other more often, see if you have the means and make a plan to make it happen.
When you are in a long-distance relationship, it’s easy to blame the distance for all the problems and bad feelings. Couples would say: “ If only we could be together, everything would be peachy”. But on many occasions, it’s just an excuse.
In any relationship, there’s a possibility that feelings may fade or you may develop feelings for someone outside your relationship. So, if your problems are with your relationship, then it’s better if you face them and see if they can be fixed.
How can you tell if your problems stem from the distance? You resolve the distance, and if the problems persist, then it’s your relationship. Of course, every situation is different, and every relationship has its intricacies.
How Can a Long-Distance Relationship Be Successful?
A successful long-distance relationship should help you achieve your goals. For that, you need to know what these goals are and have a plan to achieve them.
Questions you and your partner should discuss
- How long is your long-distance relationship going to last?
- How often will you see each other?
- Who is going to travel?
- Do you have the means to see each other as often as you’d like?
- What is each of you going to do between the visits?
- How and how often are you going to keep in touch?
- Where do you see your relationship after a long-distance?
Depending on your definition, a successful long-distance relationship can mean different things. So, make sure you and your partner have the same goals for your relationship and that both of you agree on how you’ll get there.
Personal goals are important, so it’s essential that you know what they are and that you don’t compromise on them in the name of the relationship. A successful relationship is a healthy relationship that helps you and your partner achieve your individual personal goals as well as common relationship goals.
It also helps if you and your partner know each other’s personal goals. This gives each of you the understanding you need to help each other achieve them. This is healthy because it allows the two of you to make healthy decisions without having to compromise.
How to Start a Successful Long-Distance Relationship?
To create a successful long-distance relationship, you need to know what you want from a relationship in general, and a long-distance one in particular.
Online dating opens many doors and possibilities to people who you wouldn’t otherwise meet. Starting a successful long-distance relationship is more than just checking online profiles and going for some you like more than others. This is how you can start a long-distance relationship.
But to make it successful, you should have a clear idea of what you want to want from a relationship. Before you go on dating sites and apps, have some time with yourself to understand where you came from, what do you want for yourself and your future. The more you understand yourself, the clearer you’ll be on what you want from a romantic relationship.
If you are starting a long-distance relationship with someone you met online or on holiday, your goal is to get to know them better. Once you get to know each other, you may decide to meet and even move in together.
You may discover that you are not getting along very well and may end your relationship. Such experiences help you see more clearly the things that you don’t want or don’t like. So in some respect, even those short-lived relationships are also successful.
How to Have a Successful Long-Distance Relationship?
- Effective communication
- Understanding
- Plan
In a regular relationship, you get to see your partner every day. This allows you to catch up with the day’s events as well as share your feelings.
One thing you cannot do in a long-distance relationship is to hug each other. A simple hug can tell you a lot about your partner’s feelings and their state of mind. Without it, the only guidance you have about your partner’s state of mind if from what they say.
Communication is very important in any relationship. In a long-distance relationship, effective communication is the key to success and can make or break your relationship. When things like physical touch and body language aren’t available, your communication relies on what you say and how you say it.
But, words are easily misunderstood as people tend to use the same words to mean different things. You may also be tired, but your partner may interpret it as you being unwilling to talk to them. And if they already having doubts and feeling insecure, this can be enough to become an issue.
Understanding is something not many couples have. The more time partners spend with each other, the more they think they know one another. But, the darker reality is that they just get used to each other and take each other for granted.
To avoid this, you can try to give each other understanding through empathy. By taking the time to talk about each other’s feelings, you can give each other recognition and appreciation.
Making a plan is the easiest, but nonetheless a significant part of having a successful long-distance relationship. During your alone time, you are on your own with your thoughts. At this time, any doubts you have may have grown exponentially. If you don’t have anyone to talk to about them, they can be a source of much stress and anxiety.
Having a plan can give something to look forward to when you are feeling down in the dumps. More importantly, it’ll reassure you of what’s going to happen next with your relationship. It can give you more certainty and help you plan your every day and your life around it.
To keep on top of this plan, you need to revisit effective communication to find an understanding with your partner if you ever need something to change or remain the same.
Although long-distance relationships can get hard, if you know how to handle them, you can make them successful. To do that, you need to answer this question:
What does having a successful relationship mean for you?
Conclusion
Long-distance relationships are different from regular relationships. One difference is the lack of physical closeness and another, it’s the way partners communicate with each other.
If something is off in a regular relationship, you can kiss, makeup and go to sleep, forgetting all about it the next day. In a long-distance relationship, everything that you or your partner don’t say grows in your heads. With time, even a seemingly mundane thought can grow into an issue, compromising the success of your relationship.
To have a successful long-distance relationship, you need to have an understanding with your partner. To reach this understanding, you need to freely express your feelings to your partner and be open to hearing theirs.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a successful long-distance relationship?
A successful long-distance relationship is the one that helps you and your partner achieve your goals.
Both personal and relationship related.
How successful are long-distance relationships?
Long-distance relationships are as successful as couples make them. You could look up statistics on how successful are long-distance relationships, but they don’t mean much. A lot of people treat their long-distance relationships as they would a regular one. Some, try to make them last as long as they can, regardless of the suffering it brings.
Are long-distance relationships more successful?
The success of a relationship depends on how much two people want to be together. Both regular and long-distance relationships succeed and fail for the same reasons. Although in a long-distance relationship the distance brings another dimension to a relationship.
How can a long-distance relationship be successful?
A successful long-distance relationship should help you achieve your goals. For that, you need to know what these goals are and have a plan to achieve them.
How to start a successful long-distance relationship?
To create a successful long-distance relationship, you need to know what you want from a relationship in general, and a long-distance one in particular.
How to have a successful long-distance relationship?
To have a successful long-distance relationship, you need three things: effective communication, understanding and a plan.