Leaving home is never easy, no matter how young or old you are. When you leave home, you’re not just leaving the spaces and places you’ve found comfort in—you also leave the people. And sometimes that’s the hardest thing in the world. But there is something beautiful, even in having a long distance best friend. Sometimes, the distance makes your bond even stronger.
What to Expect When You Have A Long Distance Best Friend:
New patterns: Learning to navigate new timezones, new schedules, and the ‘new normal’ for when you’ll speak or see one another. At first, it will be hard. At first, you’ll feel discouraged, like your bond is drifting. And sometimes you will, if you don’t put in the work.
An initial disconnect that doesn’t sit well in your heart: At first, having a long distance best friend will feel like you’re not really friends at all. You might have to ask your her to show up for you (and that might be the hardest thing in the world). You might have to show up more yourself, and really be there, when you physically can’t. It will feel, at times, like you’re unraveling. But hold on. The real friendships will stay.
Endless laughs: Like when you read through drunk texts to one another from the night before, stalk her new man’s Facebook profile with her on video chat, the random “I’m bored” texts that suddenly become hour-long phone conversations, or when she sends you pictures of her dog or the ugliest selfies.
Growth in ways you never thought possible: True friendships will stand the test of time, space and distance. They will stretch across timezones and work schedules and moments of doubt and fear. The true friendships will be there for the tears, for the phone calls, for the good and the bad. They will fight back against the distance and continue to grow, even if there’s no date for when you’ll see one another again.
The road won’t be easy, but it will continue. And so will the connection you have—unfailing, fearless, and real.
Featured Image Credit: Joshua Sazon
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