Stop telling me my long distance relationship won’t work

Everyone always talks about how difficult long distance relationships are and I agree. You’re used to living in the same town as someone, and then suddenly you’re at opposite ends of the country.

It may be easier to be at the same university or in the same village as your partner, but there are actually many advantages to a long distance relationship which nobody ever talks about. Rather than letting it become an issue, or throwing something special away, why not give it a go?

Time together is more special

Not seeing each other for weeks on end can be really shitty, I am by no means denying that. But when you haven’t seen each other in so long, it’s so much more special when you finally do.

You get that proper film moment where you run off the train and see them. It’s genuinely the best thing! Then, because you know this might be the last time you see each other for a while, you actually go out and do stuff rather than just sitting around on your phones. Their company becomes much more special.

You have an excuse to explore another city

Warwick’s great and Leamington is lovely, but a weekend in Edinburgh, London or Oxford sounds pretty good too.

You can start to go a little bit crazy staying in one place, particularly if you’re stuck in the Warwick bubble and sometimes it’s really nice to go somewhere different and explore a bit. Plus, there’s the added bonus that you don’t have to pay for hotels; it’s basically a cheap weekend away!

A definite bonus…exploring life outside of the Warwick bubble

You save money

This may seem like a weird one, but you have to pay for a couple of trains each term and that’s about it.

On the weekends that you’re with them, yes you’re going to pay to go for a meal or to explore the city, but then all the other time you’re at uni and not with them, all that excess money that you’re not spending on dates can be used for going out or buying new clothes.

You get so much more work done

As you don’t see your other half as often as you would if you were in a university relationship, you actually get your work done. I know that I won’t be able to do any work when I’m travelling to see my boyfriend or he’s coming down to see me, so I get it all done in advance. Weirdly, long distance relationships make you more organised.

It’s a chance to get some space

Uni is hard. I’m only a first year and I can already see that. You’re moving away from home for the first time and you have to actually look after yourself, cook, do washing and all those things that your mum did and you never really appreciated until now.

It can sometimes feel like there’s no way to escape this new life that you’re trapped in but doing long distance means that you have someone to talk to who isn’t part of this uni ‘bubble’ that you can’t get out of.

It’s someone you can talk about anything with, and for me that’s one of the best things about a long distance relationship.

Arent we cute?

So, don’t listen to others around you

When my boyfriend was first moving away to uni, all I heard was “I guess you’re going to split up now then because long distance relationships are shit and never work”.

No actually, we didn’t split up, and I’m so glad we didn’t because as difficult as long distance relationships are, they’re also great. So ignore all those people telling you it won’t work.

Keep talking and making time for each other and give it a go. You never know until you try.