As the hot months begin to approach, Christina Murphy explores ways to maintain changing relationships during the summer.
With the warmer months slowly approaching, people begin to trickle home for summer. Maintaining relationships with both your friends and loved ones can become much harder with distance. However, all hope is not lost. The hotter months can offer new and fun ways to keep in touch with your friends, and develop new kinds of relationships.
The most obvious way to keep in touch is through our phones, and everyone knows how to call and text these days - thank god for modern technology for keeping the world just that bit smaller! However, repeatedly having the same small talk with someone can get repetitive and boring. With over 100 days off for the break, hearing “how was your day” for the 99th time might be enough of a reason to cut contact all together.
With the wonders of modern technology, we have thousands of online games at our fingertips, that we can play from half way across the world. Whether it is classic videogames life Minecraft or Stardew Valley, or popular online games like Scribble.io or even online board games like Chess or Catan, there are dozens of ways to connect with your long distance friends or partners.
When it comes to maintaining a romantic relationship when going long distance, it can be hard to keep the romance alive. Things like planning online dates, or sending each other physical gifts like flowers or post cards can help the other person know you still care. The simplicity of just putting aside some time to spend together online can do wonders for your relationship.
This goes for non-romantic relationships too. Everyone gets busy during the summer. People are catching up with their families and friends back at home, and some are also working full-time summer jobs. It's easy to lose track of time and your friends. It's important to try and have a set time to catch up with one another. This specified time gives both parties something to look forward to, and means the friendship remains consistent during the months apart.
However, the warm months can also be a sign to let people go. When you are in a constant routine of seeing people everyday, it can be hard to differentiate between who your real friends are and which people are dragging you down. The summer break means you finally have some time to yourself, and you can reflect on the people who have come into your life over the past year. The three months apart is a great opportunity to end relationships that are bringing you down or making you sad, and gives you time to recover before you have to see them again.
Even though spring is a time of change for nature, summer is when everything shifts for university students. Some relationships will grow and flourish, while others are given the chance to leave peacefully. It's important to make sure your loved ones know how much you care, so when you return to college next year, you are returning as closer friends instead of strangers.