How to Stay Connected When Your Closest Friends Live Far Away

Staying in touch with your best friends after college can prove to be a real challenge. It’s not that we want to let these relationships go, it’s just that keeping them tight-knit becomes much more difficult post-graduation. It’s easy to take for granted how effortless it is to stay on top of every detail of our best friends’ lives while we’re in college. We are constantly surrounded by the girls we care most about. Sharing classes, apartments, dining halls, and gyms makes it easy to bump into one another and catch up at a moment’s notice. When we’re thrust into the real world staying connected doesn’t come so easily. We graduate, move, and start forming new lives apart from our closest crews.

Yet, as difficult as it may be, keeping up these relationships is important for many of us. These are the girls that knew us in our crazy years. The ones who helped us get into our best relationships and out of our worst ones. The friends who we pulled all night-ers with in the library and at the bars. They are the girls that know us best and that no matter what will always be our closest crew.

To help you keep the those relationships ties as strong as ever, we’ve got 6 tricks to keep you and your crew connected no matter how much distance keeps you apart. Check our list and then share your tops tips with us!

1.    Pick Up the Phone

Dialing up friends sounds obvious enough, but between work, the gym, running errands, and tending to your local social life it can feel almost impossible to squeeze in time for a phone call.  Yet, even quick chats can help foster strong connections. Rather than looking for isolated time to make calls, work them into your other daily activities like your commute or lunch breaks.

2.    Video Chat

When you’ve got limited time to interact, make each moment as meaningful as possible. Upgrade your phone calls from voice to video to keep the face-to-face connection alive. This is also a great way to connect with several people at the same time. Services like Skype, FaceTime, and Google Hangout are free and easy to use.  They also let you share experiences together like looking though pictures or watching the same YouTube video. For added fun with your girlfriends, set a theme like a monthly virtual brunch or happy hour.

3.    “Talk” Over Email

Emails allow you to get as in-depth as you would on a call with the freedom to type them up whenever and wherever you have time. Here’s a trick for making them feel more personal: When a friend emails you, rather than sending back responses separately, comment back throughout the body of the original email in another color. A response of “ha ha” or “That’s great!” or “omg I know!” in pink in the middle of the paragraph makes it feel as if you are really talking to one another.

 4.   Use Your Social Network

Get in the habit of posting updates online. This way, friends will be able to keep up with what’s going on in your life, even if you don’t talk every day. When you do have the chance to connect again, it will be much easier to catch up. Likewise check your friends’ feeds to stay connected to their personal updates.  Create a private Facebook group just for your select friends and family so you can keep them all up to date on where you are without alerting your entire network.

Pinterest is another fun way to connect with friends over social media. See what delicious recipes your friends are whipping up or the DIY projects they’ve lined up for their apartments. You can even create boards together like one for planning your next girls’ weekend getaway.

 5.    Share With Pictures

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Share your experiences visually with Instagram or iCloud photo share and Vine.  Your circle will feel like they’re right there with you.

 6.    Blog

When a lot of your life happens in another city from your closets friends, you might consider starting a blog to keep your inner circle up to date. Sites like Tumbler and Blogger are super easy to use and can get you started in no time. For those who want to build something a little more complex, WordPress is a great option. 

 

Superbly Single,

Jen

How do you stay connected to your friends that live far away? Share your tips with us below or tweet us @SingleDiariesXO