Ready to shop for supplies, attend orientation and furnish your dorm? Don’t forget where the dread comes to play. Not the dread from packing your entire life into boxes or the long car ride to campus, but the dread of the days filled with goodbyes. You’ll say goodbye to your parents, family, friends and pets. And don’t forget the tearful, heart-wrenching goodbye to your high school sweetheart. Saying goodbye to your other half can feel like the most dreadful goodbye of all. You need to decide whether you want to try to make your new long distance relationship work or cut ties now.
Here’s four reasons why you should stay with your high school sweetheart to keep your happily ever after.
1. They’ll be your emotional support system
You probably don’t know many, if any, students on your campus on move-in day. Greater chances, you probably feel extremely awkward or out of place. Knowing your boyfriend waits back home can make your whole, first experience a little less lonely. And no matter how candidly terrible the first few days in college may seem, they’ll make a great outlet at the end of the day to rant to about your miserable statistics class or cry about how you seriously don’t have any friends. Plus, they make the perfect excuse for you to look down at your phone and pretend you’re texting them to avoid making eye contact with society while walking to class.
2. They’ll keep you out of shady situations
Hooking up with the guy you met at the downtown bar? Going back to some girl’s dorm alone for the “afterparty”? Dancing half wasted with just about any other single, half wasted person at the club? You’ll steer clear of these situations that potentially become unsafe. Your girlfriend wouldn’t approve of any of the scenarios. As the loyal partner you are, you’ll avoid these situations all together. Just make sure you have a mutual discussion with them on what each other’s boundaries and expectations are.
3. They’ll teach you about relationships and communication
Everyone knows that long distance relationships are not easy. However, they can be a tremendous learning experience. A long distance relationship will teach the both of you that relationships stay strong with commitment, time, respect and willingness on both sides. You’ll learn communication is key to a healthy relationship. And sometimes, you just need to make sacrifices. Once you find your LDR-real life balance, the experience can only bring you closer together.
4. They’ll prove love is a choice
Most people value love above everything else. Though the definition of love varies, the majority would agree that love also brings happiness, success and fulfillment. So, why would you let college, a manmade concept, take this away from you? Don’t let college distort your vision of true happiness. Now if you do actually value education over love, that’s OK, too. But finding love in this generation is difficult, so consider yourself lucky if you found your lifetime partner early in life. There’s no harm in at least trying to balance your love life with your college studies (as long as you pass). After all, love is love. Going to college shouldn’t change that.
Maybe you disagree with everything I said. Maybe you value higher education over your six-month girlfriend. Or maybe you grew bitter after your boyfriend dumped you for D2 college lacrosse.
Either way, here’s four reasons why your newly single status is in your favor.
1. Your partner will become a distraction
If the other half of you moves to another state, you may find it difficult to focus on yourself. Moving to college requires extra focus on yourself. You’ll meet new people, discover new interests and navigate a new place. You may not ever fully be where you’re supposed to be if you constantly think about your boyfriend, or you blow up her phone every 20 minutes with heart eye emojis and missed FaceTime calls. You’ll miss out on socializing opportunities. And worse, you might take a big L in the classroom.
2. You won’t feel inclined to meet as many people
Since your high school sweetheart still sits in the center of your universe, you may not feel inclined to meet as many people, especially those of the same gender as your significant other. As a result, you’ll have less friends to call up on a Friday night when your universe isn’t answering their phone. You might sit at the library alone while other study buddies whisper and giggle across study tables. Your long-distance relationship might lead you to isolate yourself—which makes the homesick blues come way quicker than if you spent your time with new college friends.
3. You’ll struggle to discover yourself
Too often, people in relationships change or lose parts of themselves without even realizing it. Whether the change happens intentionally or not, it can become an obstacle in discovering your true identity. College is all about creating yourself and finding your passions. You need to be 100 percent willing to analyze yourself as a whole. How do you do this when you worry about who your girlfriend is hanging out with for her Netflix night? Or why your boyfriend doesn’t acknowledge your oh-so-adorable care package?
4. You’ll feel drained from worrying about them
Even if your sweetheart never gave you a reason to feel suspicious of them, you may still become consumed with thoughts and worries about them after being far, far away from you. What could they could constantly be doing that they don’t immediately answer your texts and calls? Are they really in class? In comes the green ugly jealousy monster, leading to more conflict in your relationship. An argument and resolving it eats up your time, whether you need to wake up for an 8 a.m. the next day, finish the last 500 words of your article reflection or cram for a test worth 40 percent of your grade. An unhealthy relationship might lead to a major GPA drop. And no one needs that their freshman year.
