5 Things People in Long Distance Relationships Are Tired of Hearing

250 miles. A 4-hour car ride – 6 and a half by bus. Only 45 minutes by plane, but dropping $500 on plane tickets for a weekend trip is less than ideal.

Welcome to my life. Since moving Pittsburgh any closer to Washington, D.C. apparently just can’t be done, this is what my boyfriend and I have to work with. I’m not one to complain; after all, we chose this for ourselves. However, the incessant comments and questions I have to put up with about my long distance relationship are almost as frustrating as the distance itself.

For example:

1. “You’re in college now – you should be experimenting.”

Call me crazy, but if “experimenting” means getting hit on by questionably-drunk frat boys in a hot, sticky basement, or hooking up with guys who don’t give a damn about me, then I’ll pass. When you have something good, you hold on to it.

2. “Aren’t you afraid he/she will cheat on you?”

There’s this thing called trust; it’s pretty neat. We’ve built a relationship based upon it, so I don’t live in constant fear of my boyfriend cheating on me. Believe it or not, some people actually value being committed and faithful in a relationship.

3. “Can you still go out on the weekends?”

If you’re in a relationship where your significant other tells you what you can and can’t do, then I think you’re in the wrong relationship. To clarify: I’m not a hermit because I have a boyfriend, and no, my boyfriend doesn’t have me locked away in a tower to prevent me from going out.

4. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just end it and find someone closer?”

That’s not how these things work. Sorry. You don’t get into a long distance relationship thinking it’s going to be easy. You do it because you don’t want a new guy, regardless if he lives in the same city as you, because you already love the one you have back home.

5. “It probably won’t work out.”

I always love a good, pessimistic, third-party opinion. While, sure, there’s always a chance a relationship won’t work out, mine isn’t inherently doomed because I don’t get to see my boyfriend every day. I’d like to think that if it’s meant to work, it will.

I’ll admit, doing the whole long-distance thing isn’t ideal. Of course I’d like to be around my boyfriend more often. But, if anything, it’s made our relationship even stronger, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. What I’m saying is: it works for us. That’s not to say that long distance has worked for everyone, though. So, live and let live. Let people be happy, with whomever they want to be happy with, whether that person is a few blocks – or a few states – away.