Not all long-distance relationships crash and burn. While the average length of a relationship is about 7, 3 years, a German study said long-distance relationships tend to last less than half, or just under three years. Long-distance relationships can last a few weeks or years.
Your long-distance relationship can last by making it work or out of sheer patience. You can have a healthy long-distance relationship that doesn’t last long.
Or you can have a long-distance relationship that lasts a long time but makes you unhappy. While some couples on average think that a separation can last only about 14 months, many can end after less than five if the couple feels it won’t work out.
This could be partly because couples in long-distance relationships are more likely to worry about the deception of their partners than those in close relationships. At first glance, the most cited statistics on this do not seem very good.
Forty percent of all long-distance relationships end in breakups, and on average those relationships last only four and a half months. Those numbers come from a site with no author or sources (they are simply attributed to Gregory Guldner, and I haven’t been able to reach him to ask how he found them).
So I’ve done a little more research on my own, and despite the abundant pessimism you can read online, it seems that their relationship wasn’t necessarily doomed to fail. That is, as long as each partner is willing to put on the elbow fat.
When you’re in a long-distance relationship, your goal and focus should be to make it work as long as you’re happy to be in that relationship. For example, the overwhelming majority of long-distance relationships, more than two-thirds end when the couple does not plan changes in the relationship.
A long-distance marriage can last longer than other long-distance relationships, mainly because it is a more serious relationship with a greater commitment. We convene relationship experts to give you their best long-distance relationship advice to help you stay emotionally connected despite the miles between you.
As long as you both commit to being a team and are open to exploring, there are many ways to connect, keep the fun and strengthen the relationship. There is no doubt that you will have days when your long-distance relationship seems especially difficult.
Amy Cirbus, PhD, LMHC, LPC, Director of Clinical Content at Talkspace, says that couples in long-distance relationships often initiate counseling “to break communication barriers or find ways to maintain their feelings of connection and intimacy while separated. Couples in long-distance relationships go from having fun to making it work to survive the distance and, in some cases, break up.
I’ll be presenting tips for romantic relationships and friendships alike, with tips on how to maintain a strong connection despite distance. With so many streaming training options available, Wilson suggests that you and your long-distance partner take the same class remotely.
There are also other tactics that must be taken by those in long-distance relationships to make the relationship work. No matter how much you love each other, there’s probably a part of you wondering how or if your relationship will survive the long distance between you.
But in the meantime, here are some therapist-approved recommendations to strengthen your emotional connection, ease the pain of geographic separation, and help your relationship go the distance.
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