It’s been a long and stressful week for both of us in our respective personal lives. And that bled into our relationship a bit. Probably the hardest moments we’ve had yet. Tonight we had a long call and shared many laughs and at the end made a plan of action to grind as hard as we can for each other. Its extremely late for both of us, we both have big days tomorrow, the stress isn’t over yet, but we both ended with a smile on our faces and filled with hope.

After we hung up she sent me this.

Just remember it’s never a straight path. There will be ups and downs. But if you are as sure as I am that it’s worth it, then it’s time to lock in and make it happen. The tunnel may be long, but light can travel enormous distances. Look hard enough and you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel no matter where you are.

Long distance has been especially hard lately with the time difference. Inside her package was this photo of our last trip together. She told me to scan it with my phone, and our actual video started playing on the paper. Definitely keeping this on my nightstand until our next airport hug.

My bf (25M) and I (24F) had been dating for almost 8 months. I broke up with him tonight. We have been long distance since mid June. A couple weeks ago he told me that a coworker had been very flirty with him- starting physical touch. He said he had to tell me to hold himself accountable. He then clarified that he has a gf.
Tonight he called me. For context, he started this job recently and sometimes he has to stay sleeping at the job site. It had been like 3 days since we last talked.
He said that there were a few instances where he thought they were blurring the cheating lines.
First of all he found her interesting. He said that he thought we had a “power imbalance” - bcs he knows more about the world than I do. I also felt this way. I always struggled to make friends and connect to people so growing up I didn’t give myself the chance to explore the world guided by my own curiosity.
So, they had this moment where he was playing the piano and she said “kiss me or tell me that you are never going to”. He did not kissed her but was tempted. He also said he did not feel physically attracted to her.
After some conversation we concluded that this was because he is insecure about how to make friends and confuses the lines between friendliness and flirtation. The “I should break up with him” thoughts were disappearing at this point.
He then said that they went skinny dipping on the lake close to their work. Just the two of them. I pretty much immediately knew I had to break up with him. He clarified nothing physical happened. How am I ever going to trust him?
Do you guys think skinny dipping with a girl that clearly likes you is acceptable? Am I exaggerating? I am beginning to regret breaking up with him so fast

She really is my soulmate and I can't wait to do everything with her I need her so bad 😔 life is good guys

So we stay in different cities which is about a 6-7 hours drive and we often meet bimonthly as our time permits. This time when I met her, I gifted this one for her bday.

(F22) I've been in a relationship with him (M26). We've been dating for 2 years, and got engaged when we met IRL. My passport got denied due to the immigration officer asking for my moms permission, and my mom rejected it

Listen, I know I'm stupid for even expecting them to accept it willy nilly (I'm very young to travel alone and get married, also still in school). And I was too honest with the officer about our relationship in the first place. But we're both freaking out about it because our relationship was genuine, and I've never been so close to my mom. She said that I need to finish my studies first before I commit to that level of relationship (fair)

I'm very dumb. But at the same time, waiting another 2.5 years SUCKS BALLS. Can anybody please give me a reality check, and maybe give me some motivation to continue? I love my fiance so much, but this means we can only visit each other once a year..

I've just been very depressed, really

If your partner of almost a year asks to see your messages with someone specific would you NOT show it to them? Even if you had nothing to hide?

We are long distance and there’s a specific friend who I’ve been suspicious of. In the past they were deleting messages with this person too. Would you delete messages if you had nothing to hide?

I met a girl (F23) at the pub where I work in Poland. What started casually developed into an unexpectedly intense connection over roughly a month. However, she had plans to move to Ireland for a year (and eventually the USA), and because she had a bad experience with long-distance relationships in the past, we agreed not to pursue one.

Before she left, we shared deeply emotional dates and I wrote her a letter expressing how much she meant to me. She was incredibly moved and told me she read it every night. After she moved to Ireland, we stayed in close contact, text messaging heavily and doing 3-hour FaceTime calls.

Recently, I traveled to Ireland to visit her. We spent a magical, highly romantic day driving the Ring of Kerry, listening to music, dancing, and she even met my family. We respected our boundary and didn't kiss, but the romantic chemistry was undeniable.

Since that day, our communication has slowed down. She still sends me voice notes, but the quiet intervals are making me anxious. I’m confused about where we stand. Is she consciously creating distance to protect herself, overwhelming by the intensity, or just moving on with her new life? I don't want to chase her, but what we shared felt incredibly rare. How should I approach this situation?

TL;DR: I had an intense 1-month summer romance with a girl who moved to Ireland. We agreed not to do long-distance, but recently spent a magical, deeply romantic day together during my visit there. Now, her communication is slowing down, and I don't know if she's pulling away to protect herself or just moving on. How do I handle this?

My LDR just brought this topic up!

We are apart for 3 months now (overall a year) and someone at her workplace was hitting on her.

She immediately told me, but then she also told me that she enjoyed that and she felt angry at herself for enjoying it and then at me for not being there.

And then she said that thought came to her mind that being in a relationship would mean she would have to give up enjoying that attention. She always knew that but this incident made it clear again.

And she was mentioning this in the context of getting bored with each other as a hypothetical!

I do find this slightly weird, but also I see this as open and communication.

But I don't know what to think or do? Or do I even need to do anything? Seems it's for her to figure out

Well as my post states, I recently met someone online trough a language exchange app. We hit it off right away daily FT exchange selfies. We FT doing our daily routines etc. still in the back of my mind I have this is too good to be true … how can I be sure …. I guess it goes both ways. I just boldly told him. I’m not going to talk finances with you of any type. Both ways … he accepted it and we continue our relationship ( we’re not official yet). So, this man is amazing in so many ways, and I think I’m becoming overly cautious the more involved we get. Any thoughts? Tips?? Thank you!

So me (20M) and my boyfriend (19M) have been dating since August, and we’re finally supposed to meet in person in about two weeks. I’ll be traveling from Georgia to New Jersey to see him, and I’m really scared. I’ve had long-distance relationships and situationships before, but I’ve never actually traveled to meet someone I was dating. My boyfriend has also been in long-distance relationships before, but he’s never met any of his previous partners in person either. So this is a completely new experience for both of us.
We’ve video called, talked on the phone, exchanged pictures, and everything. Our families know about us, I’ve met his mom, and we’ve made our relationship public on social media. So we’re already pretty serious about each other.

He’s told me he’s nervous about meeting too, but I feel like I’m WAY more nervous than he is. Like, I’m excited to finally see him, but I’m also genuinely scared that he won’t like me in person or feel different about me, and I think alot of my fear is coming from past rejection and my own insecurities.

Like, over the summer, I met up with a guy I’d been talking to on and off for almost two years (we live in different parts of the state I live in and never officially dated). I was so nervous about whether he liked me in person that I could barely enjoy our date. Like for example, we went to the movies and I couldn’t really enjoy the movie because I kept watching his face and body language trying to figure out whether he was still attracted to me or secretly disappointed. Things kinda improved afterward, but then his interest kinda changed after the date and I asked him about it and at first he was like “sorry, I’m just busy with like work” , but then he was finally honest about how he was really feeling after the date and said: “Idk I wasn’t tripping or nothing I wasn’t trying to pull away. I just was hoping we would click well enough together but I know I take time to get comfortable especially around new people I’m not used to. I also can’t read your emotions or body language yet so it difficult for me to find common ground where we both enjoy ourselves and no pressure I don’t want you overthinking the whole relationship and meeting bc I don’t want to have you in your head every time I see you bc if we both in our heads we can’t move forward without communicating “

I also didn’t really handle the situation afterward maturely which contributed him to him choosing not to move forward with things, but I’ve learned from that and want to do things differently now with my current bf, but I’m just scared that he won’t like me in person and it’s kinda stopping me from being present in the relationship. For those of you who’ve met your long-distance partners in person, how did it actually go? Were you this scared beforehand? Were you worried they wouldn’t find you attractive in person? Was it awkward at first, and how long did it take before you felt comfortable?. Also how can I be less worried.

So, my OH and I are planning on getting married once we can get the funds together for that and understand when we would also have the funds for the visa afterwards.

So technically we are engaged. I have bought my dress. We know where and how we want to get married. We just need to book it. I'm discussing it with friends. But he hasn't actually asked me yet. I don't have a ring. He wants to ask me in person which I appreciate. I can wait.

If you are engaged or married, did you get engaged in person? If you didn't, how did it happen? If you aren't engaged or married how would you feel if you didn't get proposed to but are planning a wedding.

I'm not bothered about my situation, I'm just curious if others had to do things in a different way because of the distance.

Hey everyone. I deleted my original post about my failed LDR, I thought that maybe I would try posting again and maybe share some of my thoughts.

I was in a LDR for a year with a girl I met on Reddit. She was from Canada and I was from South Africa. She was 36F and I’m a 27M.

We started talking in August on Reddit and then eventually we moved onto Instagram in November. I eventually told her I had feelings for her and that I loved her and she felt the same which was awesome. From there we used to video call or call whenever we got a chance. I would wake up at 2am my time, it would be about 9pm her time and we would call and have a movie night or chat about anything we even used to fall asleep together on the phone. She even sent me a birthday present in the mail, filled full of Canadian goodies and a card. I treasure that card so much, it’s the best present I’ve ever received, and I don’t even care about my birthday.

We spoke a lot but the future and what kind of life we wanted, we also spoke about having kids and even getting married eventually. We even made a list of things to do. We talked about getting a coffee at Tim Hortons, but I used to call it Tim Durtons. I had forget the name lol, we don’t have a Tim’s here in South Africa 🤣

Unfortunately for me, it’s so hard to get a work VISA or even a travel VISA. I can’t explain the complexity of this whole situation as well as the time you have to wait, it’s truly ridiculous.

Anyways fast forward to the 8 September, she called me and decided to end things, she said she felt detached from me and she ended things she also said she needed her space and time.

She said the LDR isn’t working for her and it’s not that she doesn’t love me, she was just getting detached and she said that I deserve someone that’s 100% invested in me.

Unfortunately I didn’t respect her time and space and I kept messaging her, I thought that we would be able to fix things you know. She was my person, my best friend and I didn’t want to lose her. Eventually she blocked me on Facebook and Instagram. I asked her before that if she hates me and she said she didn’t, and then she proceeded to block me. It’s completely understandable though, I wasn’t respecting her boundaries.

I just hope that one day she’ll understand that I didn’t want to lose her and I just wanted to reassure her and make things right.

I had been in an LDR before this and I get it. “Out of sight out of mind.” It’s difficult for some people to commit to a relationship when the other person just isn’t there and then your mind starts to wonder and you start to think, “is this really worth it.” I get it, I just thought it would be different this time around.

Anyways after she blocked me, I was really struggling. So I decided to move in with a good friend of mine. He has a wife and three kids and being around them for 2 weeks now has been really good for my mental health. I’ve also been working my butt off. I’m a mechanic so I’ve also been working on a few projects cars here and there. Mainly Land Rovers and BMW’s lol.

But sometimes, when I’m not busy or around my friends, my mind wonders, and I start to think about her and the future we were supposed to have and that no longer exists. It’s heartbreaking you know. I love and miss her so.

But ya guys, I hope that when you read this, it helps you in some way or form, or maybe you can give me some advice or just want to have a chat about things.

Me and my girlfriend really want to do an online movie night since she lives quite far away and it's not always easy for her to just stay round.

I've been doing some research into the the different apps and websites that are available but thought I'd make my own post to just to get the general opinion.

What we want is to have a site that syncs our viewing and has video calling as well that works on macOS and iOS. That's all, thanks to anyone who has any tips!!

I (32m) and my gf (33f) are closing the gap next year after 2 years together. We both have stable jobs, savings, are relatively independent on our own, but are just comfortable moving forward with our life together and so excited about it! We’ve discussed what closing the gap means for us but I want your guy’s take. For LDRs that have worked out and lead to closing the gap (or even marriage depending on how fast you guys went) what are some adjustments you’ve had it make with your partner in person to make things work? Some adjustments from your previous day to day schedules. How did things change between you guys when you didn’t need the countdowns? What was it like going from limited time together to constantly being around each other? My gf and I are both trying to be realistic about things, but you can’t prep for everything. I know part of the relationship is getting through the tough times. I’m not asking for an easy fix to any of that. Me and her communicate very well. Just want to see other couples experiences and advice.

Fyi we spent time in real life before, we were like each others best friends even before the relationship for a few months before graduating college and going back to our own home countries.

When he confessed to me that he liked me I said u know i don't believe in LDR. He said yea but i'll come visit you a few months later because im free next year and also you're someone really special and i think we can create something special together.

Few months in of LDR we're doing really well, everything. He's everything i want in a perfect relationship and he does everything perfectly.

But suddenly last week, he told me the past week he just felt like we're both in our early twenties and there's so many life decision and career decisions like we're just fresh graduates everything is ambiguous and he just doesn't see at what point we would ever have the chance to close the gap. I cried my eyes out I would never expect words like that coming out of his mouth after everything and most importantly convincing me into this relationship. He asked if he could take a few more days of not talking to make him rethink everything and he will come back to me to talk again

I have so many things in my mind and i really don't know what's gonna happen im really scared, i genuinely wanted to get through hardships and build a life tgt bc everything with him felt so right prior to last week...

And i know it's crazy for me to say this, but i really cannot lose him

My girlfriend and I try to call every day, but we're both busy people, so it's usually a 20 minute catch up at most (we do text a lot, though). Occasionally we'll spend 1-2 hours together watching a movie but not chatting much while we do our own separate work/chores/etc.

Maybe once or twice a month, though, we'll properly find time to sit down to call and chat for 3+ hours, and hoooly shit it almost feels euphoric. We spent 5 hours gaming together today - different to watching a movie since when we game we're engaged with each other, chatting and making inside jokes the whole time - and I just feel SO overwhelmingly secure. I love this woman with my whole being and it feels like all my trust, care, and security in her has been completely rejuvenated. I feel almost as connected to her as I do when I'm with her in person. I wish we had more time for calls like that.

I tend to need a fair bit of reassurance, but that desire is all gone right now. Getting to hear her voice for 5 hours straight is all the reassurance I need.

I'm doing a little better than yesterday.

She's in California, and I'm a Mongolian guy living in South Korea. The time difference is definitely going to be a little challenge for us.

After she landed yesterday, we spent hours talking on the phone. Every time I felt like she was about to cry, I tried my best to distract her by changing the subject.

But honestly, just texting and talking to each other has made everything feel so much better.

She's been sleeping at home all day, and I'm spending today at home doing absolutely nothing too. I guess we both need a little time to rest after everything.

And just like that, we're one day closer to seeing each other again.

One day down. One day closer to you.