It was hard enough finding someone you connect with romantically in real life situations.

As luck would have it, you finally met the right match for you.

On an online dating site no less.

A guy who made you feel loved and cherished, and you were able to be yourself with.

A man who did not judge you for your idiosyncrasies and flaws and embraced you for who you are, but there was only one problem.

He lived far away from you, long distance.

That is how you met him, and that long distance persists to this day.

At first, it saddened you that you had finally made such a visceral connection with a guy, only for him to live so far away from you.

But you thought better of it, believing that the profound connection you shared with him would overcome the long distance issue.

It did, to an extent.

Recently, it has been a struggle to deal with the long distance.

This is especially true when you see your girlfriends with their boyfriends in tow whenever you go out with them, and you don’t have yours alongside you.

It makes it clear that your long-distance relationship is difficult when you witness a girlfriend being able to call on her partner anytime she needs his physical presence and emotional support, but you are unable to do the same.

If it is any comfort, know that so many women who have met their match on matchmaking dating sites are going through what you are right now and have done in the past.

Ever since the advent of online dating sites, long-distance relationships have exploded in popularity as people find romantic connections with those who live far away from them.

The advantage of all this is that we are no longer relegated to where we live to find a romantic partner.

This expands our ability to find the right romantic partner, without having to either be alone or settle for someone who lives in your city who isn’t a good match but is all that is available.

Thanks to technology and the subsequent advent of dating sites, we no longer have this restriction.

Yet, the increase of long-distance relationships that have resulted from this technological advantage has created drawbacks.

That of a lack of physical contact with a person that shares a long-distance relationship with you.

To survive a long-distance relationship, always have a plan for when you both intend to live in the same city.

This gives the both of you a target goal date to work towards, which helps in keeping hope alive as it doesn’t feel like you are destined to be stuck in a never-ending long-distance relationship with no end in sight.

Once that is established, schedule the days where you will go on virtual dates.

Whether it be dinner, a movie, playing a board game, listening to an audiobook, etc., arrange a virtual date with each other every week.

This gives you two something to look forward to, which keeps the spark alive.

Finally, plan as many in-person meetings as possible, regardless of whether it is only for a weekend.

Save the money necessary to make these in-person meetings possible.

Whenever you see each other in person, it reinvigorates you both.

Despite a short meeting, the energy you get from such a meeting provides further inspiration to stick with the long-distance relationship until you reach the targeted date when you now live in the same city.