5 Reasons A Long Distance Friendship Is Not As Bad As You Think It Is

When your best friend moves overseas, there are lots of questions that come to mind. “Will our friendship change?” “Will the distance affect the closeness that we have?” “Will we be able to keep in touch most days, despite the different time zones we are in?” “Will our friendship last forever, as we speak?”

I have been through that phase a few years ago. I have to say, it was one of the most painful experiences I encountered in my entire life! Just imagine, having your best friend leave home and move to a new, unfamiliar territory; and you, waking up the next day, knowing that your best friend won’t be around – to have lunch with you, laugh at silly jokes with, eat your favorite desserts together, talk or sit in comfortable silence with you, and just BE with you.

After a few days of adjusting, learning about each other’s schedules, remembering the time difference between my country and my best friend’s current location, and chatting about all the things that have happened in our individual lives, I wondered if this kind of setting will work for us. Yet, I held on to my belief that this friendship will last because we promised each other to always talk whenever possible, as if the two of us are still together in some way.

Weeks, months, and years have already passed, and fortunately, my long distance friendship keeps getting stronger each day! Some may think that this is a rare occurrence that only happens to a few while some may know how it feels to be in this certain situation. But if all of you are still wondering why this type of friendship lasts, here are my top 5 reasons:

1. You always have stories to look forward to. Best friends are often filled with stories to tell. In a long distance friendship, however, stories are twice as fun to listen to (or at least read through chat boxes) because the time you have with each other is limited. You don’t get to tap your friend’s shoulder or call out to him or her every so often because, hey, your friend is practically miles away for you to do that! So in long distance friendships, stories are stacked and abundant, which allows you both to have plenty to talk about each day.

2. There is never a dull moment. May your conversations be through chat, video calls, and/or phone calls, you and your best friend’s discussions never get dull. Since the two of you are coming from different places, you don’t get to entirely see what is happening on your best friend’s side of the phone or screen, and vice versa. If something comes up from either side of your places, the both of you have something to talk about, no matter how trivial the topic may be. And from that topic, another subject can commence, hence, more things to talk about. Yay!

3. Stickers, smileys, pictures, and GIFs add pizzazz to your conversations. Call me a millennial, but these elements bring life to a normal typed chat. Rather than using words like “hahaha” and “LOL” to show your emotion through the virtual world, try using GIFs or smileys to better express your moods and reactions. I promise you, your conversations online with your best friend will never seem monotonous ever again! It would be as if you were talking with each other in person. In fact, it even keeps the conversation from dying.

4. You’re always excited to take videos and photographs of things and places you want to show your best friend. Of course, there will definitely be times when you won’t be able to talk to your best friend online. So when you are out in the real world and see something interesting you want your friend to see, you go ahead and take a snap of it from your camera or phone to record the moment. Once you share the picture/s or video/s to your best friend, it feels as if he or she hasn’t a missed anything at all from your life.

5. You and your best friend’s conversations consist of random matters, but mostly, a lot of “I miss you so much” talk. Talks with friends are usually fun, casual, and sometimes serious, but in a long distance friendship, a great deal of “I miss you” talks are exchanged. Yes, we do appreciate our best friends in a normal friendship setting, but in a long distance friendship, we learn how to value them more because it’s not all the time that we can share every moment with them like before. In long distance friendships, you learn how to keep the bond strong, wherever and whenever you and your best friend may be. And that’s what brings the both of you closer than before.