Sometimes growing up means finding yourself living far away from your significant other. Post-graduation is a time when focusing on jobs is key and this can put people in two different places. That’s where I find myself at the moment. It’s not easy, but it’s part of life. This is part one in a series on Long Distance Relationships (LDR).

The key to any relationship is communication but that becomes the most important thing when your boyfriend/girlfriend lives in a different city/state/country. In 2014 there are so many ways to contact someone, calling, texting, FaceTime, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Tupac’s hologram. There is seemingly no excuse not to talk, but it isn’t that easy.

The first thing to take into account is time zones. Being three hours ahead or behind someone makes things trickier but not impossible. Pretty soon you’ll start to get good at adding or subtracting hours.

The next thing hurdle to get through is when the other person can’t contact you. In my case it’s because my boyfriend finds himself in dead zones for most of the day. He works in the woods, and for some reason America has decided Sasquatch doesn’t need cell towers.

However, no matter how hard you try there are off days where you can’t connect or even if you do the conversations seem off. These days suck. You find yourself mad at your person for no reason and then snapping at them because you’re upset at the situation. There isn’t really a fool-proof solution to this beside understanding it happens and you have to be as considerate as you can about each other’s feelings.

All of this seems obvious and cliche but it’s easy to get caught up in how you’re feeling away from someone and forget the other person is in the exact situation. I’m not an expert because I’ve only been in it a few months, and it’s not something you can understand until you’re in it, but the thing that makes it easier is knowing my boyfriend is working and fighting for our relationship too. That’s the only way to keep from going crazy.