Many of us experience our first serious, romantic relationship during our college years. Although some youngsters do have relationships in middle or high school as well, but they are more of a puppy love or infatuation rather than solid relationships with a future. College relationships, too, have undergone a sea change, with most youngsters looking for sex and fun rather than finding their true love with whom they would like to settle down. The new found freedom, which is one of the perks of college life, is the main reason behind such an attitude. Casual dating, casual sex, breakups, long distance relationships, identifying a true person from a fake one - all these things sometimes could be very intimidating for a nineteen-twenty year old. So to help such youngsters, here are some tips on how to forge ahead and handle relationships.
Healthy Relationships
Earlier all relationships started with dating, followed by love and finally sex and marriage. These days, youngsters indulge in sex, then they think of dating, and sometimes it may result in love. When a person is young, and is following this very trend, he may not be able to identify whether he is in a healthy relation or not. So even if you think that you have found your Mr. or Ms. right in college and are planning to build a future together with him/her, make sure that you are with the right person in a healthy relationship. Here's how you identify a healthy relationship.
- A person feels supported and cared for.
- Both the partners act as equals in the relationship.
- Partners feel emotionally connected.
- Partners have their own life despite being in the relationship.
- Partners communicate freely and neither of them try to judge each other.
- Partners trust each other and are honest with each other.
- Partners respect each other.
- There is no physical or mental abuse
Long Distance Relationships
If you are in a relationship with your high school sweetheart and both of you are now in different colleges in different cities, it will take quite an effort on your part to build and maintain such a relationship.
In order to maintain a long distance relationship, giving each other time is very important. You can rely on phone calls, texting, e-mails and letters for the same. Try meeting up once a month to keep the spark alive in your relationship. Sending each others flowers, love notes and gifts, is another way of telling each other that you care, and are thinking about each other. Maintaining trust can be a challenge in a long distance relationship. So keeping each other well informed about each others life, friends, etc., can help in building trust.
Surviving a Breakup
If for some reason your relationship has failed, instead of feeling miserable and low about it, start paying attention to yourself. Exercise, hit the gym, eat healthy food, pursue new hobbies, do whatever that keeps you happy and distracted from the breakup. Connect with your friends and family and spend time with them. If you feel like crying, do it. Take a paper and write about all the emotions that you are going through. This will help you to heal faster.
Relationships in college, just like relationships outside it, can be nurtured and built with lots of love, understanding and mutual respect. Although college time should be devoted to building a financially sound and successful future, if you meet your life partner too during it, then there's nothing like it!
