The Dilemma of Distance

I personally have never been in a long distance relationship, so most of what I am about to express has to do more with observation of those who I have been around and talked to. To me, a long distance relationship during our younger years, many times may be an incredibly irresponsible choice. The reason I say irresponsible is because many of the couple that try to attempt such a thing, go into it thinking that it will be easy and that love will ALWAYS be enough. The harsh truth is that even with couples who are living in the same room as one another, love may not even be enough. The consideration that needs to be taken when a long distance relationship becomes an option is whether or not the sacrifices to come are worth the eventual triumph of love. Is the connection that you may share with that signifcant other actually worth the stress and hardships that may come with distance? In some instances the answer is yes, and it is in these exact instances I would say.... go for it!
BUT.... most of the time the answer is not actually yes. I'm all about learning and especially when it comes to love, people need to learn. Some even say that one cannot know the true meaning of love until they understand what it feels like to have lost love, but this is a whole other topic for a different discussion. What I am saying about distance is that couples that live near one another many times have issues with emotional boundaries. Sometimes these minor emotional boundaries may build up to the point where they can cause a relationship to crumble and end. When you add long distance into the equation, especially at a young age, you create not just one boundary, but a whole array of boundaries that a couple must overcome constantly in order to eventually reap the benefits of their love.
After speaking to several couples who have experienced the long distance thing, I have pretty much caught one thing from it...... sacrifice. Now that word doesn't just apply to one thing but instead to many things. With a long distance relationship at a young age, our hearts tend to be where our significant other resides. This is where the issue comes in, how can two hearts meet each other when they are both looking to be in different places? During the times that people are apart, they may even forget why they are putting themselves through the emotional roller coaster that they are riding for what may seem to be an infinite amount of time.
What also makes a long distance relationship hard is being able to find people outside of your relationship who both understand you and can also be there for you emotionally despite the fact that you may not always be able to reciprocate for them. What I have heard is that it is definitely hard to maintain friendships, especially in college, when someone in is involved in a long distance relationship. This is probably because its hard to get close to someone when their heart is in a different place. I know that some people who have tried this actually ended up losing their friends and even losing alot of their "fun" times that they would otherwise have experienced in college.
The last thing I want is to try and sound pessimistic, because I do really firmly believe that love conquers all when it has been properly prepared for a battle. But when love goes in completely untethered and is put under the heavy fire of conflict and emotion, alot of times it may not stand a chance and eventually be destroyed. What I am trying to say is that when a relationship is faced with the challenge of distance, couples must go into it understanding what is to come and that in order to eventually come back together to reconciliate their love, they will undergo a time of emotional uncertainty and incredible sacrifice.