Periods of physical separation are common in most relationships and it takes effort – but you can have the best of both worlds
• Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a problem sent in by a reader

My boyfriend and I are both in our early twenties and have been together for almost a year. In the past two months we have committed to a long-distance relationship.

When we are together everything is perfect; I truly feel like we have something special. However, we both struggle with communicating over text/calls and this can cause our relationship to stagnate. We are only able to meet every month or so as we live in different cities and both lead very busy lives. This situation is causing me tremendous anxiety – so much so that it could irrevocably affect our relationship – especially as there is no clear date as to when we’ll be able to live in the same area again.