Long-distance friendships arise from many different situations. Whether it’s someone you met during grade school and one of you moved away; or it’s someone you met during college who’s from a different area; or it’s someone you met during your travels, and you’re not staying in the destination long. Whatever the reason, it’s someone you want to remain friends and it won’t be easy to see each other on a regular basis. I know the struggle of trying to maintain long-distance friendships, so I’m sharing three tips to keep those relationships going strong!1.use technology:
In this day in age, we are often reprimanded for our extensive use of technology, but when it comes to long-distance friendships, technology is the best tool to stay in touch. We have so many different ways to use it to our advantage – it’s great!
- Call/Text – The most convenient way to keep in touch is send a text, starting up a conversation, or giving them a call when you’re free.
- FaceTime/Skype – If you’re missing seeing your friends’ faces, you can make time to FaceTime them if you have an iPhone. If not, Skype can help you out! I have it on my computer, but it’s also available in app form.
- Facebook – Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends who aren’t close by, and a great way for them to keep up with you as well. You can share pictures, statuses, and so much more.
- Instagram – The best place to get a visual snapshot of what your friends are sharing is on Instagram. You can scan their pictures, like it, and leave comments.
- Snapchat – Snapping your friends or viewing their stories is a quick and convenient way to see what they are up to at the moment.
- Email – I know this way may not be the most popular, especially among those my age, but it can definitely be useful! Shoot your friend an email to share something funny, send a long message, or just because.
2. use snail mail:
Snail mail used to be a popular way of communication, simply because that was the only way to get in touch with others. As technology has progressed, snail mail has definitely decreased. But that doesn’t mean it’s dead. Taking the time to hand write a letter can be time-consuming, but it’s so satisfying to mail that letter off. And speaking from experience, it’s so exciting and meaningful getting one in the mail. I do owe a few friends some snail mail, so I’ll get on that!
3. visit them:
Let’s be real. Sometimes talking to your friends across miles and miles can make you miss them even more. Especially if you were used to seeing them on a daily basis. You miss seeing their face and doing hooliganish activities together. Well, what better way to keep in touch than by paying them a visit wherever they are! Maybe you’ve never been to where they live, and they can be your personal tour guide. Or you guys can plan to take a trip together somewhere! Either way, it’s great because you’ll see each other in person again!
Well, there you have it! My three tips for maintaining long-distance friendships. It definitely takes some work for all parties involved, but I believe it’s so worth it.
How do you handle long-distance friendships? Do you have any other tips to add? I’d love to hear what you have to share! Let me know in the comments!
Technology makes it so easy to stay in touch with acquaintances as well as longtime friends. We try to do snail mail and send my kids’ artwork to add a more personal touch.
Oh that’s cute! I love that idea, and I’m sure whoever is on the receiving end feels so special!
Facebook is the main way I stay in touch with long distance friends. I will admit that I’m pretty terrible at keeping up with people though. I like the idea of sending letters. One of my goals this year is to send a handwritten letter/card every month, so I should do this with some of my friends!
That’s a great goal! I should do that as well. Staying in touch is a lot of work, and it takes both parties involved to to make it work! Best of luck with your letters!! 🙂
We moved to Dubai from the UK and of course this meant leaving our friends behind. The way I keep up with them is by arranging Skype calls ( I don’t do this enough if truth be told ) and we use wattsapp in group messages. I think just about all my friends use Facebook too which is amazing for seeing photos of events and catching up on messenger. I think we’d be lost without technology.
http://www.mumandthebeauties.com
Oh wow! That’s a pretty big move. Yes, Skype calls where my everything during my college years. I averaged one Skype call a week. I need to go back to that! And I agree with you on Facebook, and being lost with technology. We’re blessed that staying in touch with our loved ones is at our fingertips!
I’m always catching up with my friends over social media and Whatsapp! Thanks for these tips~
Vivian | LIVE . IN . LOVE
IG | @viviyunn_
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I don’t use WhatsApp as often as most. Maybe I should start using it more! Thanks for taking the time to read 🙂
Aw I love this post, Larissa! I moved away from home 3 years ago and constantly keep in touch with just a handful of friends.
Thanks Emma! It’s definitely hard to keep in touch with everyone. I love that you keep in contact with a handful, because even that can be hard sometimes. Life can just seem to get in the way of all that, but we all need to find time for each other 🙂
It’s so nice that we can connect with friends on multiple levels due to social media. Share photos, send texts, send a snap…no reason to not stay connected.
Exactly! It’s literally at our fingertips!
I’m part of a “Three Amigos” tribe – and we all live at least 300 miles away from one another. We’ve been friends for over 40 years because we make the effort to stay connected. Love this post!
I love that! This made me smile so much. Life-long friendships are amazing, and rare and should be cherished. I hope you three are able to get together soon and celebrate your amazing friendship!!
I luckily don’t have any long distance friendships or family members. But the fact that we have such a strong connection to anyone in the world these days is amazing. You could contact someone in an instant and through so many different methods.
What a great post.
Wow, that is truly amazing! I feel like all my friends and family are in different parts of the world. And yes, it’s so great how easy it is, in terms of resources, to keep in touch with everyone. And thank you 🙂
I love this post so much! I have so many out of state friends or friends who’ve moved away and it’s really tough to stay friends and keep up with each other. I think sometimes social media tricks us into thinking we are caught up so we don’t need to call or whatever because we feel close but we never really know what’s going on if we just stick to the surface. So using social media to be more proactive is such great advice! Also, I totally love snail mail. I send packages and goodies to my friends all the time. It’s just a fun little treat and I love it. I love this post!!
Thank you so much Christina! That means a lot! And yes, I couldn’t have said it better myself. It is super easy to fall into that trap of “oh I saw her post, I’m caught up” but friendships are much more than that! I used to send packages to my friends as well…I need to get back on that as well as my snail mail!
Also, I wish you had a share bar on your posts. It would make it so much easier to share lol. For wordpress we use the AddThis plugin. It’s great because it has stats too. Just a thought because I wanted to share this awesome post! 🙂
Thank you for letting me know they weren’t there! I forgot to click one button that would make them show up. They should be there now!
Great tips! I don’t have many friends that are too far, but we do have lots of family – it’s definitely work, but worth it 🙂
Thank you! And yes, so worth it!
I remember those days when me and David being in this LDR. Am so glad until now that we survived. I could say here that, “Hey! We’ve been there, we’ve done that!”. 😁👌🏼
-Gerome of G&D Blog
http://www.gdblog.net
So glad to hear that it worked out for you two! I love success stories 😍