This article is, obviously, more geared toward freshmen, but I
hope that everyone can benefit from it. For the freshmen I have one
piece of advice to give on the subject of long distance: Don’t do
it.

Primarily I say this because I have seen and heard the scenario.
You enter college scared to death and completely in love with
someone you’re separated from. These two things combined can create
disaster.

One of my best friends was dating a guy at her college last
year, and this summer he found out that he would be transferring in
the fall. She decided to end things because she wanted to be able
to “completely enjoy school.”

I couldn’t agree more. If you have anything holding you back,
you’re never going to completely immerse yourself in the SLU
experience, and for that reason alone you’re doing yourself a great
injustice.

Secondly, you don’t want to be “that kid” who stays in at night
and talks to the significant other, all the while wishing you were
with him or her and weren’t here. This leads to two things:
fighting or crying.

I watched my freshman roommate go through this painful
experience. They broke up after three weeks, and she became a
different person. She was finally freed emotionally, thus allowing
her to experience all that SLU had to offer without anything
holding her back.

Not all long-distance relationships are doomed to failure, and
yours might be one of those. If you’re going to take on the
challenge of making it work, there are a couple of things to keep
in mind.

As in any relationship, always remember that your future is at
your fingertips. You don’t need or want anything that is either
holding you back, bringing you down, or that is keeping you from
fulfilling your goals.

If you’ve reached a point in the relationship where this is the
case, you need to reconsider it. Your significant other should
encourage you and impel you to accomplish great things. If they are
successful in this role, you’ve found a keeper. If not, cut
them.

No matter what, you need to make many friends. You need to go
out with them and not worry about what your “other” is doing.

You need to allow yourself to enjoy SLU. If it doesn’t work out,
you’ll have your friends as a shoulder to cry on and a motivation
to move forward.

Ultimately what is most important is your happiness. If you’re
happier with someone, by all means be with him or her. But also
remember that throughout your college experience you will be
changing rapidly, so rapidly that you might not even notice it.

Your significant other will be changing rapidly as well. If
you’re not changing together and heading in the same direction
anymore it’s OK.

I promise, there are plenty more to come!