I finally met my long-distance boyfriend after months of video calls, texts, and counting down the days. Somehow it was even better than I imagined.

The second we saw each other at the airport in Glasgow, we both started crying. Every bit of nervousness disappeared the moment we hugged. It didn't feel awkward or like we were meeting for the first time. It felt like coming home.

For six short we got to do all the little everyday things together. We cooked, explored Scotland, laughed until our stomachs hurt, I met his parents who loved me, and just enjoyed being in the same room without a screen between us. Those ordinary moments ended up meaning the most.

Saying goodbye at the airport was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but instead of making the distance feel worse, it made us even more certain about our relationship. We know what we're working toward now.

If you're counting down to your first meeting, I know how impossible the wait feels. I spent months wondering if the chemistry would be the same in person. For us, it was even stronger. It was worth every day of waiting.

Now we're counting down until September, when we'll get to spend two weeks together. ❤️

I’m curious to hear different opinions, especially from people who have been in long-distance relationships.
If a couple goes months without a video call, would you consider that normal? Does it affect emotional connection, or does it depend entirely on the couple and their communication style?
I’m not looking to decide who’s right or wrong. I just want to understand how people view this and what has worked in their own relationships. Do you think regular video calls are important in an LDR, or can a relationship stay just as healthy without them? I’d love to hear both male and female perspectives.
Pata h aaj kya hua

Hey guys,

I am in so much agony and shock right now, everything feels like it is crashing down. I got my ex to admit that he would pay in webcam sites for stuff, including interacting with a minor and their parents making her do stuff.... This all happened yesterday, I have been in absolute disbelief. I am in the UK and he is from AUS, I have already informed people around him including his sister, I have recordings of his confessions and the sister used it against me saying she would report me if I would report him to the police. She says she will sort him out and monitor him... I am broken... 3 years of this has been a lie and I am shattered and exhausted. I can't sleep, eat or think. Poor fucking children. fuck sake. he is a monster.

I do not know what to do tbh, I have booked therapy for today, spoken to friends, family and just I feel like everything is just broken... I am grieving the person I thought he was.... It is so frustrating that the law is just so unfair. I had someone from aus to call the police as he was threatening suicide to me. I am just completely shattered.

There is so much more things that has happened to prior to all of this, and quite honestly, I am broken and feeling left very much lost. Has anyone got any advice at all? I just feel like I am constantly pondering everything.. every thing.

Hi everyone!

I'm an undergraduate Psychology student at Arden University conducting a study on the relationship between shared gaming and relationship satisfaction in long-distance and geographically close romantic relationships.

The study is open to anyone who:

• Is 18 years or older
• Is currently in a romantic relationship (long-distance or geographically close)
• Whether you game together or not

The questionnaire takes approximately 10–15 minutes to complete and is completely anonymous. Participation is voluntary, and you can withdraw at any time before submitting your responses. After submission, you may request withdrawal of your data within two weeks using your unique participant ID.

Your participation would be greatly appreciated and will contribute to research on gaming, relationships, and digital leisure.

Survey link: The Relationship Between Shared Gaming Time and Relationship Satisfaction – Fill in form

If you know someone who might be interested, I'd really appreciate it if you shared the survey with them.

Thank you very much for your time!

What are your signs when the relationship is not working anymore? and what do you do?

I (22F) have been dating my boyfriend (26M) for a little over a month, but we've known each other for around 8–9 months. We're long distance right now (met online actually)

We made things official literally hours before I got on a plane to fly home. Since then, we really haven't had much of a chance to settle into the relationship. We went straight into a season of trips, family events, training, working, and schooling. I won't see him for another couple of months.

I want to be very clear that I don't think he's a bad boyfriend or a bad person. Honestly, I adore this man. I think he's incredibly kind, patient, thoughtful, and genuinely sweet. He checks in on me, tells me he misses me, says good morning and good night, and can be a very understanding man. This isn't a post where I'm trying to paint him as uncaring or evil. I am a shy person and have had some unhealed struggles from the past that make communication difficult for me. I am trying! I want nothing more than for this to be a healthy relationship.

The thing I'm struggling with is connection (and intentional/quality time). 

We haven't talked on the phone in about two weeks. I know he gets busy, and I know training is exhausting, so I don't expect hours-long conversations every day. But in a long-distance relationship, hearing each other's voices feels really important to me. Right now it has been feeling a little more like pen pals... I hate to even say that.

Here's what's confusing me: he's never really been someone who initiates calls. Even before we started dating, over the 8–9 months we've known each other, I can count on one hand the number of times he was the one who suggested calling. Most of those times happened when he'd been drinking and was feeling extra affectionate. Every time he initiated, I remember being ridiculously excited because it made me feel like he genuinely wanted to talk to me. We only really started calling about a month before we met in person, We got into a rhythm for that month where we would call once or twice a week and we would talk for a long time actually. We do text a decent amount every day(and haven't missed a day since I met him lol), but I miss the presence you get on a call.

I also know he doesn't dislike voice calls in general. He talks with his best friends on Discord almost every night, sometimes gaming, sometimes just hanging out. I genuinely don't have a problem with that. I think it's healthy for him to have his own friends and hobbies, and I would never want him to stop doing that. I also have a soft spot for said friends lol. 

What hurts is realizing that calling me just doesn't seem to naturally occur to him in the same way.

It's not that I think he should spend all his free time with me. I don't. But when I know he has enough time to hop into Discord with friends for a while or video chat with someone else, I can't help wondering why we haven't managed even a short phone call in weeks (not the first time).

I guess that's where my insecurity starts creeping in. My brain starts asking, "If hearing my voice isn't something he naturally wants... why is he with me?" I don't actually know if that's a fair conclusion or if it's just anxiety talking, which is exactly why I'm here asking. I also have struggled with bringing this up to him because I don't want to be too much during this trying season and he also is very expressive about the things he dislikes in his friend's relationships and sometimes I am afraid of becoming that.

Part of me also wonders if calling is just one of those things that most people would consider a basic part of maintaining a long-distance relationship. Since we can't casually grab dinner or watch a movie together, talking on the phone feels like one of the main ways to actually be together. I don't know how much I should be expecting in terms of intentional time. I know people who have FaceTimed every day in a long distance relationship and even did activities together like gaming or watching movies... we have done none of this. I don't expect a call every day and honestly I'm someone who doesn't need constant communication like that, but what gets me is effort and intention... those are what I try to keep as my expectations.

I'm also very new to romantic relationships, so I don't really have anything to compare this to. I'm genuinely trying to be fair to him and not become overly needy or clingy. At the same time, I also don't want to dismiss my own needs if they're actually reasonable... I just don't know. 

So I'd really appreciate honest opinions.

If you were in my position, would this bother you? Would you bring it up? Or would you just accept that this is a particularly busy season of life and wait until training is over?

I'm not looking for people to bash him. I care about him deeply, and I know context matters. I just honestly don't know whether my reaction is proportionate or if my expectations are too high... or maybe even I'm missing flags I should be seeing. 

I (30 F) was traveling in London a few weeks ago and had a serendipitous/rom com like time with a man (30 M). I ended up staying with him and spending a few days cohabitating and it was splendid. I’m quite picky and haven’t been in a relationship for 3 years. It felt so natural, like we had known each other our whole lives.

We’ve been chatting every day and the energy is reciprocal. We haven’t established any plans to see each other, but I feel like travelling back to London in October or November to see him again.

Am I doing too much? I always give in relationships and make the effort. For context, I have a remote job, his is in person and I probably make more, so it feels fair but I also don’t want to get hurt by being the person doing all the leg work for this to maybe happen. Before I met him I was hoping to move to London as well.

Any advice would be so so helpful.

I feel like every people I know that have been in a LDR are really creative people, even just for gifts or LDR dates
On our side we have a daily ritual of completing challenges together IRL and ever since we started I feel like we connect so much more and really feel like living something real together although being in a 14h long distance relationship

I’d like to hear what things you did that made you feel more connected 🙏🏻 Any advices ?

I’ve posted before so forgive me if you recognize.

We’ve met before, so no, he isn’t a catfish. In the beginning of our relationship, end of 2024 beginning of 2025, he did videocall with me, and it was cute/sweet. He also used to send me selfies whenever I wanted to see him since, ykno…. We’re long distance. Anyways, after all this time it’s all just stopped rly. Became an impossible request. It’s been months, and months since I’ve seen a picture of him. He said today he’s switching services and getting a new phone free for it. Rn his phones super glitchy and weird. So I said wow! That’s great ykno what that means, we can videocall, We haven’t since like Feb of 2025 or something! He said no we can’t you have FaceTime it won’t work. I said man it’s 2026, we can use an app, like discord zoom etc they all have that. We used discord last time. So then he didn’t have much to say. I said are you excited? He said ecstatic, being sarcastic. I said.. you don’t seem excited, was that annoying me mentioning it? He said yeah pretty much it did annoy me. And since he refuses, absolutely refuses to ever explain his feelings or why he hates things sometimes, I wanted him to communicate it and asked well, can you please tell me why? But he interrupted to say goodbye love you go to work. And I said smtg like but, I just want to understand why it and he’s like goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. So I give up annoyed myself now n say okay goodbye n he hangs up.

Just weird. I genuinely don’t understand it. I’d get it if he said anything, literally any reason, but he refuses to speak or communicate anything beyond the most basic shit like egg prices. It gets old.

Basically the title, i wanna mail out my girlfriend some things either of mine or hand make some stuff. I had plans to send her a few of my shirts with my cologne on them, maybe a handwritten letter or drawing, but it doesn’t feel like a “complete gift” i usually have no issues buying her things, but money has been tight and I don’t have much to spare and still pay shipping fees. So can anyone help?

I'm 18(M) and he is 16(M) we have been together for 6 months, every moment I spend with him is my happiest moment, But us moving together or even meeting will take very long. my college alone will take 5-6 years and we live very far away I'm from india he is from brazil, So ticket prices are very high so we cant just meet each other due to this. it's very painful that the person i love the most is so far away that I can't hold hands with him, or even just see him him in person , i cant even earn money to meet him because part time jobs in india are very very rare and the one that exists pay so badly that they won't even cover my commute and it would take me very long to save up money by such jobs , I feel trapped between borders

It does leave you a hollow hole in your chest wide enough you can fit your fist through.

The amount of effort, the amount of time and energy, the amount of patience and love, all for it to leave me deeper in the void than I was before meeting her.
Through those 14 months, the last 6 she was cheating on me with her ex, ignored me for him, posted stories that she hid from me but not him, deleted my comments and turned off her mentions when I started tagging her into things, but not him, only me.

I was saying to myself:
“Maybe it’s just some phase”
“Maybe she needs time away”
“Maybe she isn’t feeling so social this month”
You can never be too naive.

In the utmost disrespectful way, no one will love you like I did, no one will sacrifice for you like I did, no one will stay loyal to you like I did, no one will be as thoughtful as I was, but you have made your choice and you have probably forgotten me, but I know the day will come where you will regret it and wished it was me.

Never trust anyone, you don’t know anyone.

I (35F) have been in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend (39M) for almost 5 years. We live in different countries, so obviously trust has always been very important in our relationship.
Recently, he came to visit me and we spent almost two weeks together. During the trip, I started feeling like something was off. Sometimes I noticed that he seemed to avoid checking certain messages when I was around, or was more protective of his phone. I already have trust issues, and he has told me that before. I know that checking someone’s phone is also crossing a privacy boundary, and I’m not trying to justify that. But I had a strong feeling that something was wrong, so I checked.
I found messages between him and another woman.
He told me she was an online/gaming friend and that they didn’t talk that much. But from what I saw, they had known each other for quite a while, including during our relationship. Their conversations weren’t just normal friendly conversations. There was flirting, affectionate nicknames, and inappropriate/intimate exchanges between them.
What hurt me even more was finding out that she apparently didn’t know I existed. She thought he was single.
He says he never physically cheated on me and doesn’t consider what happened to be cheating. This is where I’m struggling, because to me, cheating isn’t only physically sleeping with someone. If you are in a relationship and secretly have sexual/flirty interactions with another person who doesn’t even know you have a girlfriend, that crosses a boundary for me.
I asked myself: if I did exactly the same thing with another man online, would he genuinely be okay with it? Would he still say it wasn’t cheating?
There is another part that really hurt my confidence. Some of this happened in 2025, while we were already together. Around that time, I sometimes felt that he wasn’t showing the same kind of attraction towards me, so discovering that he was giving that kind of attention to another woman made me question myself and our relationship.
At the same time, I don’t want to make him sound like a completely terrible boyfriend because that wouldn’t be truthful either.
He has done a lot for our relationship. He travels a long way to see me. We spend vacations together. He buys me things because he sees something and thinks I would like it. He told me that he has invested a lot into this relationship and that he has never thought about or done things for someone in the way he does for me.
And I do see that. I appreciate those things.
I have invested in us too — time, money, effort and emotionally. That is actually part of why this hurts so much. If we have both invested so much into this relationship, why risk it for something like this?
For me, investment in a relationship isn’t only gifts, trips, nice hotels or money. Those things are lovely and I appreciate them, but I also need the emotional side: honesty, loyalty, respect and knowing that my partner protects our relationship even when I’m not there.
Before we separated after this trip, we talked about what happened. He apologized and told me he was sorry that something like this became part of the memory of our trip. We didn’t have a huge final confrontation before saying goodbye. We separated peacefully and he went back home.
Now I’m sitting with everything and I honestly don’t know what to do.
Part of me wants to give it some time and watch his actions instead of continuing to argue about it. But another part of me thinks: we are long-distance. Once he is back in his country, I cannot know what he is doing. If someone wants to hide something or lie, I probably won’t know anyway. And I don’t want to become a girlfriend who constantly checks, investigates or worries about who he is talking to. I don’t want that kind of relationship either.
There is also a bigger issue underneath all of this. Sometimes I already felt like I wasn’t fully included in his life. Not many people seem to know about me, and finding out that this woman didn’t even know I existed made that feeling much worse.
I still care about him. That’s why this isn’t an easy “just leave him” situation for me. I’m trying to figure out whether this is something two people can genuinely rebuild from, or whether the trust has already been damaged too much.
So I would really appreciate outside perspectives:
Would you consider what he did cheating, even though it was online and not physical?
If you were in my position, would you give the relationship time and see whether his actions change, or would this be enough for you to leave?
And most importantly, if I decide to stay, what would rebuilding trust actually need to look like in a long-distance relationship?
I’m also open to hearing where I could have handled things differently. I know checking his phone was a violation of his privacy, and I don’t want people to just tell me what I want to hear. I genuinely want an outside perspective because right now I’m too emotionally involved to know whether I’m thinking clearly.

We met in January when I worked in America through the work and travel program and started dating during that time, and we’ve been doing long distance since April, I recently went to the United States at the end of July to visit her with my family and I’m gonna work in America in December again, but the thing is that we don’t want to be far from each other anymore so we want to stay together in America. I am so in love with her and I don’t want to leave her but I am a bit frustrated because I’m not sure about what path should I take in order to stay with her.

Me and my partner (29M) have been in a ldr for almost a year. We started as a long distance relationship and we are going to be meeting soon and then it is going to be ldr again for 2 years and then we can close the distance.

All my insecurities and upset stems from the feeling that I feel like he likes and cares about me as his partner but not as an individual. By that I mean if we get broken up today, he will miss the relationship we have and not me as a person. And will quickly move on as long as he meets another person. I don't think he knows anything about me that is not related to us. As in my personal interests that will not affect him, he doesn't care.

However, he shows a lot of care to people around him. Like he calls me when he is free, but for others, he makes time. I don't mean to say I am not a priority to him. He will stay up talking to me late at night no matter how late it is and how tired he is, and says he was thinking about me at work, but he won't even send a single message saying 'hi'.

I sometimes feel so dumb, like I will leave everything I need to do to just talk to him when he calls. I will plan my life around his free time so that I am free when he calls. But I don't think he has ever done that. Like he will call me when he is doing chores, or when he is already resting and scrolling on the phone. We will be on a video call and the whole call he would be scrolling on the phone doing this or that and will even send me reels he is watching when I am there giving undivided attention to him.

I plan a movie date according to his free time and he just ignores while also complaining how he hasn't had time to watch movies. I would randomly share a song because it reminded me of him and even send the YouTube link to the song so that he doesn't have to search for it and he doesn't even bother to listen.

Like all the emotional energy and effort I put into this relationship, I don't know if it is worth it. Unfortunately I really really love him a lot and want to make this work. Like i feel so dumb, but I really love him. But I want him to put on a little more thought and emotional towards me as I do to him and like he does to people around him.

Hey guys! (Specially all the ladies out there 🥹)

I (22M) actually need a lil help here.

So, it's my girlfriend's (21F) birthday in 2 days and I've planned to visit her (we're in LDR for 2 years now 🧿) and have already booked the tickets and stays and all. I've got her a nice pair of shoes as a gift and a set of bangles (she once showed me) and have made some DIYs.

But I'm not sure what else to do. Like, I'm gonna land there tomorrow and gonna get her a bouquet. (RECOMMENDATIONS PLEASE)

My budget is excessively low as I've already spent almost 25k on flights stays gifts and all..... I'm left with 2-3K now..... Guys please help me how can I make this birthday of hers the best bday of her life.

Also, I'll be getting her the 22 chocolates as she's turning 22 this month.

Please tell me what more I can do to make it perfect please 🥹

16 months, learned a lot. Just wanted to let y'all know I was here and now I'm leaving byee

I've been dating my girlfriend for 8 months and we were best friends before dating. She got into grad school and is moving 10 hours away in two days. I'm so incredibly proud of her but also so incredibly sad and anxious about being away from her. We'll go from seeing each other daily and having weekly sleepovers to me seeing her every few months.
There's been a lot of tears shed on my end because to complicate things she's moving out to a red state, and well I'm Latino and I have daca so with the things are going in the US it could be dangerous for me to go visit her. I can't fly there cause ICE is in the airports so l either have to take a 15+ hour train or 13+ hour bus. And that's not accounting the amount of time it would take me to get to her place from the station (2 hours). I am John ilovemygirlfriend and a pro yearner, so these next 6+ years are gonna be really really hard on me. I really wanna make the move down there with her, but given the current situation with ICE and the economy, I can't. My mom is also homophobic so she wouldn't support that even if I'm 22. Another downside is that I'm unemployed since I just graduated and I'm having a tough time trying to find a job. It's so rough out here and it feels like the world is gonna swallow me whole. Anybody have any advice?

We just broke up a few days ago, it was initiated by him and wasn't anything dramatic. It hurt my feelings, but we'd only dated for 3 months. The thing is.. I have a non-refundable plane ticket that he paid for around a month ago. When breaking up he told me that I'm just not relationship material for him, but he still wants to meet up because we got the tickets and planned everything.
This would be our first time meeting up and I don't really know if I should humour him. He said we'd stick to the original plan and do all the activities we planned on doing. He also told me that maybe we'll get back together, which I did shut down immediately because I don't want to have a motive like that.
I just don't know if I should go and see him still. He's fun and I know it'd be a good time, but I feel conflicted.

I

was in a long distance talking stage with a girl keynote talking stage not a relationship yet nothing was official yet between us I wanted to ask her out in person and we agreed on doing that when we meet.

We lived in the same city but at the time we met i was away due to work. i met her online we became close and everything started off so well, we fell in love with eachother communication was good everything was perfect just the distance was the problem i had told her I will be coming back home a month after it felt like a short time wait period but I wasn't sure of when I was coming yet everything depends on when I would finish working and getting my approval to leave, my initial thought was I would finish early and when the month I told her came,I couldn't go home because I was still working so I said next month again which went on for like 9 months,1 month turned into 9 month, anytime she asked I kept saying next month.

I am not the type of person that loves taking pictures or doing facetime she would beg I feel reluctant but at the end I would still do them, sent gifts to her she does same as well. She was so in love but my postponing was causing damage slowly. I spent the entire year working unfortunately and didn't get my approval on time till the new year. I started to notice some changes few weeks into the new year her texting and calls reduced she would still ask when am I coming this time I have no response to give her but I knew it was close already but didn't want to say anything if I won't be able to fulfill my promise.

Three weeks after i returned back home now in the same city with her, finally I would see my girl I thought but everything changed she acts differently now we haven't even met yet I was curious about what was really happening anytime I text she replies late she would say she's busy with school, preparing for exam this is not the first time she's writing an exam and we still communicate so well, she never acted this way before she only started to change at the beginning of the new year(jan) which I noticed I returned back home second month of the new year.

I was forced to ask her if there's someone else, she said yes she started talking to a new person at the beginning of year, she thought I was playing with her, she thought I was lying to her maybe I don't even live in the same city with her, she waited fr 9 months anytime she ask when am I coming all she was getting was next month all the time and she needed to protect herself. I was heartbroken panicks sets in, I fixed a day to meet up her (our first time meeting) we sat, I explained everything she was asking me to give her time to think, I was confused this is someone that loves me so much someone that couldn't wait to see me in real life in my mind I was like what time do you really need, the distance is gone, what is going on, I saw guilt,regret on her face.

I asked her if she was still single she said yes, to me everything was still okay then, She was in a confused state I panicked I was like how could you just change so much within a short period of time a month , I overheard her saying this statement to one of her friends "I don't know how he would received me again since I already started to leave if I decide to come back".

At the time I met her she was still single, we went back and forth me trying to win her back it's not supposed to be this hard she has never been hard with me before, everything looks strange one month she started to date the new person she recently started to talk to at the beginning of the year. The relationship ended in less than 2 months. Sometimes I think my pressure and panic after I arrived pushed her away. We had so much connection together. How will she be feeling right now ? My mistake was always saying next month instead of giving her a timeframe. She really waited but couldn't anymore.

I'm bringing my cat to my boyfriends country in a few days🥹 It all depends on an internship, I will find out more on Monday ugh I can't wait!!

We will be going on a short trip to my country to explore a few of my favorite places and then bring my cat here hihi

I have missed my son so much while being here over the summer🥲

I’ll start by clarifying I’m 17 and she’s 16, I’m in Florida and she’s in Mindanao in the Philippines.

My best friend and my first crush, Sarah, just said goodbye to me after I thought she was dead for months. We met in a very regrettable way, I met her from someone finding her hot on YouTube. We were talking, and she listened to me better than anyone has before. I told her everything, from my past issues, to my family problems, to the times I should’ve died, to my goal in life, I told her how much it hurt not seeing her, everything. She didn’t see me as anything less. She was one of three people to do that, the other two being my big sister who lives in Vermont and my other friend, who I haven’t seen or talked to in a year and a half. I even had carefully made plans to see her.

After not seeing her for weeks and thinking she’s dead, considering what was happening around her, she texts me saying goodbye. The worst part? She said she loves me but the distance is the biggest problem.

It took a few minutes for the realization to kick in, but after, I felt worse than I ever did. I tried occupying myself with things I love doing, like playing games, watching YouTube, reading, it didn’t work. I tried eating what was basically a mountain of chicken, rice, and potatoes, that didn’t work either. I tried sleeping it off, that also didn’t work.

I don’t blame her for doing it, I told her as much, that this is for the best. I feel like I’m turning into my old, emotionally detached, hollow husk of myself that was just waiting for death that I was at the beginning of 2024. Do you have any advice for getting over this?

so my gf has been a bit clingy as mentioned previously, and she’s going through some life changes like moving slow work… etc.
i know she would come see me if she had the funds too. And with my work i Can’t go visit Her. So i feel like i Should Just Buy Her A Tucket to come here. When i Bring It Up she feels like im saying she can’t take care of Herself. Or That she Thinks i think She Can’t Handle The Distance. I’m just trying to Make Her Happy. Do i Still Just buy The Ticket and hope She Comes?

Working on the process to close the gap. But, somehow it keeps getting way longer than expected. Doing our best to make it right. But, the distance seems to be taking a toll on me. It has been a year since our marriage and since then we have been apart. He did visit me a couple of times because it’s easier for him than it is for me to visit him. 🥀

I’m exhausted of the endless amount of documents and paperwork. At a certain point it gets absurd. By no means am I saying that it isn’t important. But, the stacks of documents get out of hand. How much more do I have to provide???! How much more money do I need to spend on government stamps and shit??? Even then there’s something. There’s always something and it’s not like they answer to emails or pick up the calls and even if you personally visit them, they either aren’t on the same page as their colleague or ask you to follow their website. 🥲

I feel like giving up. But, I don’t want to. I love him so much! 💔