How can you turn living apart into an advantage in a long-distance relationship

Amy is a scriptwriter in Manhattan. Racold is an architect in Berlin. They make it a point to meet at least once in a year. Their long-distance relationship has survived for over 5 years. Contrary to their well wishers prediction of an imminent doom during their initial stages of their courtship, Amy and Racold have constantly proved them wrong by dealing with their long-distance relationship with utmost maturity and commitment.

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Giving each other space in terms of distance doesn't necessarily mean cutting off or not communicating at all. In Amy and Racold's case, they turned the thousands of miles between them into an opportunity to develop and improve their own personality and individuality. Giving each other room to grow and pursue individual careers becomes necessary if you are practical and understand each other's needs and aspirations.

Instead of harbouring negative feelings about your partner for choosing his career over you, utilize this time to develop other interests apart from work or college life. Joining a personality development class or hobby class may provide a whole new perspective to life. Both of you should realize that long-distance relationships are not like face-to-face relationships in the sense that trust is a bigger issue than what to wear on your first date.

You are not dating like other people; the relationship will develop through talking, letters, e-mails and intermittent visits. A big advantage of living apart is that you will have a stronger mental connection than other couples which can push the relationship years ahead of face-to-face couples. In a long-distance relationship, unlike the face-to-face one, the couple cannot demand each other's time. They no doubt communicate on a regular basis, but a proper sense of time management can give ample free time to socialize or meet up with friends.

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The stifling feeling which often creeps into a face-to-face relationship probably due to an over-possessive partner, may not happen in a long-distance relationship. Frequent communication is an important element of long-distance relationships. Every relationship is different, but the advantage of talking or checking in with your partner at least once each day can provide a stabilizing force to a relationship.

Making use of different technology is one of the advantages of long-distance relationships. Couples are not limited to phone calls. To add an element of surprise and spice to your long-distance relationship, make the effort to send your partner a short email or text message expressing your feelings or just a sweet and simple "I love you".

The Internet also provides dozens of free "e-greeting cards" with which you can communicate almost any emotion to your partner in a cute animated and musical card or with old-fashioned phrases. Writing letters via "snail-mail" can be romantic and also a keepsake memento for those times you're both feeling lonely or missing each other, or a surprise for a special occasion.

Two emotionally stable people, who have goals and directions for their life, can learn a multitude of things not only about each other but about themselves, if they utilize the advantages in a long-distance relationship rather than focusing on its shortcomings.