5 Tips for Nurturing your LDF

(Long-Distance Friendships, obviously)

Whether you’ve just moved to start college, your bestie took a seasonal job leading at-risk youths into the Oregon wilderness, or you’ve graduated, and everyone has spread across the country to chase their ambitions – you gotta keep the love alive.

We need our female friendships- here are some tips to maintain them across long distance.

1) Vlog.
This changed the game. I literally made a new snapchat account, just added my best friends, and started recording my yapping. We send each other silly little GRWMs, rants, rages, OOTDs, weekend recaps, training updates, or the DL on the most recent hinge date. The yapping is endless. Vlogging helped us see each other’s day-to-day experience rather than trying to piece big events together over long periods of time.

2) Commuter Calling.
If you’re commuting, call someone! This transition is a perfect time to give someone you care about a ring without changing your schedule. It can also help time limit the yap sesh so your routine isn’t thrown. I always feel loved when someone thinks to call me so it’s easy to pay it forward. Plus, way less guilt ridden than seeing a nice text message you forgot to respond to three days ago…

3) Turn on Google track my flight.
For that bestie who is always in the backcountry and never in cell service – you gotta see that babe in person. Turning on google track my flight has got me the cheapest plane tickets I’ve ever seen in my life. I flew from Denver to Salt Lake City for $36 round trip over a long weekend. One of my favorite things about getting to see my long-distance friends in person is getting to meet the characters in their life. It makes it easier and more fun to catch up with them later because you literally know who they are talking about and can participate in the convo more.

4) Sign up for the same challenge.
So you’re on the running band wagon- hell yes, you and your bff should sign up for a race and train for it! Ideally you can sign up for the same one and run it in person together. Then use Strava to post your training, but like really use Strava. Post pictures (literally anything on your camera roll), the song or playlist you’re listening to, a screenshot of funny text messages you got, and write a damn novel or something funny. It’s fine if you don’t want to write anything but, “Afternoon run” is so lack luster babe, you’re here to entertain your friends and inspire strangers.

5) Gratitude.
Seems like it might be a given? But gratitude might just be like that tab open in that background that you forget about. When you are feeling like, “Thank god I’m the person I am because my best friends help me be her,” say it! Who doesn’t love a little (or a lot) of verbal affirmation? And when your bestie just listened to your 45-minute rant about that one thing you should’ve said to that person last weekend, it doesn’t hurt to tell her ya love her. It’s brutal out here; don’t let your friends wonder if you are grateful for them. There’s lots of ways to say it, so if you’re getting the ich from having to verbally express your feelings, it’s okay, you do you.

The first part of being a good friend is being good to yourself. Stay healthy and do what you need to do to be happy. It’s okay if relationships change – girl, it’s complicated, right? If you find yourself feeling insecure in your attachments and overly dependent on others try to really understand why and know that that might not be the best friendship for you. But when we do find those friends that just get IT and they make us feel like the best version of ourselves, distance has nothing on us.

Written by Kaitlynn Sorensen

Backcountry Squatters Nonprofit Board Member

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