There’s this new ad campaign in Portugal (sorry for you foreign speakers, but it’s in Portuguese), that talks about friendships and how they are slowly dying. Nowadays we connect more with our technological devices than in real life and substitute meeting up with likes and status updates. I’m a victim of long distance relationships, and have been ever since I moved to Dubai. When you start making friends pretty much all over the world and your own childhood friends start moving to other countries, you’re in it – the-oh-so-dreadful-long-distance-friendship-relationship.
On one hand it can be a selection process when you realize the ones that stick by you, even if you’re not there day-to-day, and the ones that don’t. You have to learn the hard way that it’s a very natural thing, especially when you grow up, people fall a part. But what happens when you don’t want to? When you still want to be friends with that person for some reason? It all falls on you. I try, as much as I can, to stay in touch with people from back home and use Skype, FaceTime, What’s App, Facebook, Instagram and whatever means are available to talk, chat, send images or voice messages.
It’s a sticky situation because I feel like I live with my phone as an extension of my life. But when you move to another country, where you don’t know practically anyone and are starting over, you have to maintain contact with whoever stayed back. That’s why when I’m back home, I choose to spend most of my time awake, meeting friends and doing everything I can possibly do to make the most out of that time with them.
It’s not easy to handle being away from the people you love and made you who you are today – and when I was in Dubai, I thought it would be easier not to talk to most of them to avoid thinking or feeling – but you have to put an effort and make yourself noticeable, make them remember you, start the conversation and not feel embarrassed or ashamed because the person on the other end, may be thinking the same! Everyday, take at least 5 minutes to connect or reconnect with someone. Even if it’s just to send the poo emoji on iPhone. Hey, sometimes, that’s just what I do!