Long-distance love falls into two categories: two people are already in love but have to live apart or two people who already live apart and fall in love. In the first case, the goal is to keep the flame alive during a separation. In the second, the idea is to build love from the ground up. Whether you're an old married couple or 20-somethings in love for the first time, open, honest and supportive communication can keep you together while you're apart.
Establish Terms
Talk to your long-distance lover about what you both want from the relationship. Lifescript, a health website, suggests discussing issues such as how you'll communicate and how often, when and where you'll visit in person and whether you want to see other people or stay monogamous.
Discovery Health says establishing these ground rules will give you both the same expectations, help you communicate as you go and make it somewhat easier to break up if necessary. The terms can change over the course of the relationship. Just make sure both parties are on board.
Communication Is Key
Technology has multiplied the ways to say "I love you," but the old-fashioned touch is also effective in keep a relationship alive. In the electronic realm, you can email, make a video of yourself or talk and see each other via an application such as Skype. Lovingyou.com recommends creating an online journal in which one party suggests a topic, and both parties type in their feelings about it. This is helpful for couples just getting to know each other, but it can also build new levels of understanding between partners who have been together a long time.
As for old-fashioned communication, love letters never go out of style. It's also a thrill to receive photographs and packages filled with anything from home-baked cookies to dazzling gold jewelry.
Encourage Each Other
Discovery Health recommends encouraging your long-distance partner in all aspects of life, in and outside your relationship. When you're not in close proximity, it's common to miss familiar gestures of support, such as a goodbye kiss or the squeeze of a hand. Instead, use phone or email to let the person you love know you're thinking of her--for example, when she has finals or goes for a job interview. Also, from a distance you don't have many nonverbal clues--think frowns, smiles, winks and grimaces--so Discovery Health says to get more verbal and ask how your partner is doing and feeling.
Stay Busy
Keeping active rather than waiting for the phone to ring will benefit your long-distance love affair, according to the romance website Long Distance Relationship Tips. Not only will you stay happier, but you'll also have more to contribute to the relationship. Whether it's art, politics or charity work, pick activities that are fulfilling and interesting. You'll be able to pursue those activities when you and your lover reunite, or even if your relationship doesn't work out.
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