h2>Dating : Long Distance Dating During Quarantine is Tough!
2020 began with so much hope and excitement. My boyfriend and I had weddings, a Hawaiian getaway, and many adventurous hikes that we were looking forward to, but soon he would get a job offer in Texas that he couldn’t pass up. This of course happened the first week of January…it would only be a year or a little longer so I chose to stay in Seattle for my job and career. I decided to keep our dogs with me too. And then he was off to Texas to find an apartment and settle in down there. The first couple of weeks wasn’t too bad because we knew we had a trip at the end of January to the Waste Management Open — golf tournament down in Scottsdale. February was a little harder — 3 weeks felt way longer, but I went down to San Antonio at the end of the month to check out the city.
And then BOOM— COVID really hit and everyone was in shelter in place. And the long distance became so much harder…
He was supposed to come home every 3–4 weeks, but we soon found out it would be longer due to travel bans and health concerns. He was finally able to come home for 36 hours after 9 weeks away and then for my birthday, but twice in six months was extremely tough. I was feeling really alone, having nothing to do, and honestly just depressed. Some of the below tips helped me through my journey.
1. Use technology to your advantage
Technology is amazing — I don’t know how we could have done long distance back when there was no Facetime, Skype, or Zoom. We would have just emailed or had to use my minutes to talk. We Facetimed every day before my boyfriend went to bed; texted all day, and talked on the phone on his way home from work.
2. Set up a date night once a week at minimum
Ours was Saturday or Sunday night — we would eat dinner together and chat about our week. We set up our phones so we could Facetime each other, turned off all other electronics and just ate dinner together and tried to make it as much as if we were at home together.
3. Know your schedules
We had a 2 hour time difference CST vs PST which was tough as is but Jake worked 4am-3:30pm and I was working 8am-4pm so as you can imagine our schedules never aligned. So we texted through the day and then Facetimed before bed. Make time for each other and block out when you know the other calls.
4. Find new hobbies for each other to do together or separate
My boyfriend got me a bunch of those paint by number paintings so I’d have some things to take my mind off him not being there! These were really fun to do and each took around 12–15 hours each to get done. Definitely showed me I have a more artistic side that I didn’t know I had.
He took up golfing more frequently and we both began exercising/holding each other accountable to working out and eating better!
5. Plan when you will see each other again
This was a big one for me — his timeline was always changing due to the concerns of travel with the virus so make sure you add weekends/weeks of when you’ll see each other! This gives you something to always look forward to! We had Waste Management Open end of January, I was coming down to San Antonio at the end of February…March-May no travel. Jake to Seattle end of May for my birthday, July 4th weekend to SA.
In June we decided that I’d come down and work remote from San Antonio — my job has been working from home since March, but now we were told at least through end of 2020. So I packed a suitcase with some clothes for the next couple months and here we are at least together in San Antonio.
2020 has been a year of uncertainty and so much change. But it’s been that way for everyone…I know I’m not the only person who has been put through the ringer. But through this time I’m thankful for my health, friends/family, job, and my boyfriend — I know I have so much more than a lot of other people right now. Be thankful for all those essential workers out there and be humble and kind because you never know what people are going through.
