5 Things Everyone Gets Completely Wrong About Long Distance Relationships

Long distance relationships have never been more possible than they are now.

Thanks to social media, texting, and more, there are dozens of virtual ways we can communicate with loved ones and keep in touch.

To cultivate and sustain a great relationship, it's no longer necessary to be in the same room as someone for every second of the day.

Now, you can just carry that person around in your pocket.

Despite how much easier it is to have long distance relationships, though, people are still quick to judge long distance couples.

So, it's time to debunk the common misconceptions about them.

1. Your long distance relationship will be hard.

Everyone likes to classify all long distance relationships as  "hard." And in a sense, yes, long distance relationships are harder than non-long distance relationships.

However, the more you want to be in a long distance relationship, the easier it is.

If you enter into a long distance relationship willingly, optimistically, and prepared to tackle whatever obstacles come your way, there's nothing that you and your partner can't do.

You can endure long hours of not being able to communicate and long weeks of not having sex -- and still love each other just as much as you did before you began.

First and foremost, to have a successful long distance relationship, you need a good attitude. It will be hard, but it doesn't have to be that hard.

2. Your long distance relationship doesn't have to be a top priority.

No matter how in love you and your partner are, you can't just let a long distance relationship happen. You have to take control of it and put energy into making it happen.

You have to make it a top priority, which means you'll have to make sacrifices and exert energy in ways you may never have done before.

You might give up some Friday nights out to Skype with her. You might sacrifice sleep time to talk on the phone with her.

You might give up a free relaxing weekend at home to go fly out and see her.

If you have the right attitude, these won't be seen as sacrifices -- they'll be things you want to do.

3. Great communication skills aren't the most important thing.

In a long distance relationship, all you and your partner have are your words. You don't have touch, smell or taste, which are three crucial senses that help a relationship grow.

This means you have to take extra care in making sure that your communication skills are near perfect.

Your words are the only way you can get your feelings across, so you absolutely have to use them.

You have to remind your girlfriend how you feel about her more often than you would have to if you weren't long distance. You have to tell her directly if you are feeling upset about something.

If you aren't as verbally open as humanly possible with your girlfriend, your affection and your problems in the relationship will go unnoticed.

You'll end up bottling everything up until it explodes, and that's the absolute worst thing that can happen in a long distance relationship.

4. Your long distance relationship doesn't need an end point.

In order for a long distance relationship to be successful, you and your partner have to have some semblance of an end point -- an approximate time and a place where you'll both meet up to be together for real, in person.

If you aren't working towards a common goal, it can be hard to find the point of continuing to be together.

This means that both of you might need to make a few tweaks to your life plan. Perhaps you once previously imagined yourself working on the west coast, but your girlfriend's career path requires her to stay on the east coast, so you take a job in your company's east coast office.

It's not likely that you and your partner have the exact same life plan, but if you love each other and value each other's presence in your lives, you will make those compromises.

5. Your long distance relationship isn't worth it.

Long distance relationships are f*cking tough. They'll make you endure months of loneliness and agony, and then weekends of intoxicating joy and pleasure.

They'll test your feelings, your patience, and your commitment to making "forever" happen.

But they're absolutely worth it. Forget the looks of disapproval when you tell people you're in a long distance relationship -- you know that you love your partner enough to deal with absolutely anything that comes your way. And that's all that matters.

T-Mobile’s Simple Global makes it possible to connect with your loved ones in 120+ countries. And now with the new Mobile Without Borders program, you can talk and text to/from Canada and Mexico at no extra charge. Thanks to T-Mobile, dating long distance has never been easier.