How to Stay Close to Your Family While Living Far Away

Video Call, Instant Message, or Use Social Media to Keep in Touch

Video calls, instant messaging, and social media make it easy to share life moments with family in real time. Sharing your life via video call or through social media apps allows families to see and hear each other easily and with minimal effort. It is nice to be able to send a funny meme or text to your family, but making video calls, using FaceTime or Zoom, or creating a family group text can be a great way to connect with loved ones consistently. All of these tools provide ways to see your family members, and hear their voices and are a great way to connect on a deeper level than plain text. You can set aside time every day or every week for video chats or instant messaging sessions. Although technology is no replacement for in-person family time, when you are living away from family, it can help keep you emotionally close.

Schedule Weekly or Daily Check-Ins

If you live far from family, it can be challenging to stay connected and feel like you are a part of your family’s day-to-day life. Set a regular time each week for a call or video chat. This will become a routine and a special time that everyone can look forward to each week. Having a set time to communicate with your family will allow for reliability, and it will help your family to know that even though you are living away from them, you are still there for them. Whether you have a Sunday night call or a Wednesday night call, the regularity of this communication will make sure that you do not miss any major updates or celebrations.

Share Photos, Messages, and Voice Notes

Sending photos of your day or where you are, sending messages or funny memes, and sending voice notes to your family can be a great way to make your family feel like they are a part of your everyday life. Of course, you can always ask your family to share photos and stories of their lives with you as well. This daily contact with your family will make everyone feel like they are a part of each other’s daily routines and experiences, even though they are physically distant. This type of sharing will build memories and be able to look back on the photos and stories later down the line.

Celebrate Holidays, Birthdays, and Anniversaries Together

No matter how far away you live from your family, you can still celebrate important milestones with them, even if it means doing it virtually or sending a care package, gift, or handwritten card. Schedule a video call or Zoom chat around these special times and include your family in important celebrations, and, if possible, plan to visit during family holidays, special events, or birthday parties. Schedule regular visits around the holidays and important family events that you may be able to make it back to your family to celebrate and see them in person. It is a great way to keep strong family ties together no matter the distance.

Plan Visits Whenever Possible

Physical family time is irreplaceable. Schedule visits with family wherever possible and make sure that when you do have the opportunity to see your family in person that you are making the most of it. Plan visits around school holidays, work schedules, and important family events. Visits do not need to be long; a weekend visit with your family can make a big difference. The longer you have to be apart from your family, the more important it is to schedule visits regularly.

Find a Project to Work On Together

Shared family projects are a great way to bond even if you are not able to spend time together in person. Start a family blog, create a shared online photo album, or even plan a virtual book club that everyone can work on and read together. This shared project will give your family a shared goal to work towards and feel like you are doing something together. You can also create goals that you and your family work towards together, such as planning your next visit, planning a vacation that you all can go on together, or volunteering for a shared charitable cause.

Be Aware of Time Zones and Make Flexible Plans

If you and your family are in different time zones, you will have to take time into account for your calls, visits, and video chats. Make sure that you are aware of the time differences and that you and your family are making the effort to accommodate each other’s schedules and be flexible. You can also try rotating who will compromise with busy schedules to make sure that the burden of communication is not all on one person. Be sure to send good morning and good night texts in their local time to keep in daily contact. This helps everyone to feel that they are still a part of the day-to-day activities of each other’s daily routines.

Make Time for Real Conversations

Deep conversation is the key to keeping an emotional intimacy between you and your family members. Asking each other how they are doing, how their days are going, what is stressing them out, or what they are looking forward to are all ways to keep the conversation more emotionally connecting than simply asking what someone did during their day. Of course, feel free to ask those questions as well, but make sure to go in depth and have real conversations with each other. Sharing your own feelings, personal experiences, or challenges is a great way to keep everyone in your family connected on a deeper level.

Celebrate Success and Offer Support During Hard Times

It can be easy to forget about all of the accomplishments, good grades, or promotions your family members get if you are not able to celebrate with them in person. Send a thoughtful text message, gift, or flowers to your family member to let them know that you are celebrating their achievements with them. You can also schedule a video call or special event to honor their achievements and show your family that you care. Hard times, such as physical or emotional illness, are also good times to send a thoughtful message, gift, or offer to come by and visit if needed. Acknowledging these events is very important to keeping family connected emotionally.

Stream Movies or Games Together

Streaming movies, playing games online, or sharing television shows together can be a great way to have fun together and spend quality time with your family. Streaming services, such as Netflix Party, allow families to stream the same show or movie together, even if they are in different locations. Services that allow for online game sharing are also a fun way for families to connect and share interests, even if they are apart. These shared experiences, even if they are just fun times together, can help build and maintain a closeness between family members even if they are physically apart.

Share Stories and Heirlooms with Your Family

Sharing family stories, taking turns showing old family photos, or sending virtual tours of your family’s favorite locations or meaningful heirlooms are ways to keep family traditions alive. Have your family’s elders share some of their favorite stories with your younger family members, and vice versa. You can also have your family share pictures of their pets, or you can plan on taking a virtual tour of a local museum together and share the experience. Hearing family stories, seeing photos of meaningful places, or hearing about shared family heirlooms can help keep your family connected in a way that you are sharing your family’s history and identity.

Be Patient and Stay Present

Living apart from your family can take time, energy, and patience. Make sure to communicate with your family that you love and support them but also that sometimes schedules and other daily commitments can be a bit of a challenge to meet everyone’s needs and desires. It is very important that you and your family have some flexibility and patience with each other’s schedules, but you and your family should also be sure to communicate and be present for each other, even when that means being apart. Relationships change and grow over time and with distance. Staying connected and present for each other is key to making sure that your family’s relationships will stay strong.

Conclusion

Living far from your family can be a challenge, but it does not have to mean the end of closeness and connection between you and your family. Making a concerted effort to communicate, being intentional about your family time together, both in-person and virtually, will make it much easier to stay connected. Use video chats, shared photos and daily messages, and deep conversations to keep you and your family engaged in each other’s daily lives. Shared projects and goals, being aware of time zones, and communicating during important milestones will also help keep you and your family close. Make time for patience and flexibility and be sure to remember to be patient and present for each other, even if you can’t be in each other’s physical presence.