A long distance relationship is a difficult type of relationship to run. And not all people who get into long distance relationships succeed in them. Yet unknown to many people who see a long distance love relationship as a drag (and quit at the earliest opportunity) is the fact that such a relationship has a number of benefits.
Greatest among the benefits of a long distance relationship is that such a relationship provides an opportunity for each of the partners in it to see just how much their significant other treasures them. In this respect then, a long distance love relationship can be seen as a furnace on which a relationship can be tested and purified – a furnace which the partners in the relationship can happily submit, firm in the knowledge that if the love between them is genuine, they will come out of it stronger. And if the bond between them breaks under the strain of a long distance relationship, then clearly the love between them was superficial, and they were probably not meant to be an item in the first place.
Of course, besides the love ‘testing’ function of long distance relationships, such relationships also serve the functional role of letting the partners in them pursue whatever it is that is taking them away from their loved ones (whether it be education, a career or anything in between) – without having to ‘lose’ their loved ones. In many cases, the alternatives to the partner going away not doing so are quite unthinkable. For some, not going away on a job assignment would mean being fired from work, which would result in financial difficulties, possibly culminating an ugly end to the relationship caused by financial woes. Rather than end up with no relationship at all in this way, many who decide to embark on a relationship where they are separated from their loved ones by distance choose such a long distance relationship, knowing that the alternative to it could possibly be no relationship at all. Now what is better between ‘no relationship’ and a long distance relationship?
