Discretion

[HollzHeartsChris]

I think this quote is relevant " Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind" ~ Dr. Seuss.

Couldn't agree with you more there Awesome quote.

[FierceFoxie]

I guess since my LDR is a driving distance of 2 1/2 hours, no one thinks its really that big of a deal. Friends and family can see he is my BF on Facebook and I will talk about him to anyone. I'm darn proud I have such an amazing man in my life.

[Dziubka]

I tend to talk about my boyfriend a lot, too. I'm always scared I talk about him too much and people remember me as the chick that always goes on about her boyfriend
Apart from the fact that he's a big part of my life and it's really hard to talk about anything personal (holidays, my weekends, etc) without mentioning him and secondly because when we were still ldr, it might him 'more real' in a way. He isn't just my secret or fantasy, but a real life boyfriend that exists in this very world.

[Haley53]

I feel like my general security in our relationship and complete apathy towards anyone's negative opinion helps curb the sorts of comments I receive. I have gotten them occasionally but I shrug them off and don't pay any mind. :P I don't see our relationship as being "special" because it's long-distance, so I imagine people respond with the same everyday tone I talk about him with.

[LoveJ]

I don't have a problem sharing that it's a LDR. It's 2012 - if people can't grasp that a lot of relationships start long-distance these days and are maintained electronically, that's not something I need to be uncomfortable with if they don't understand.

[lucybelle]

Most of my friends didn't even know I had a boyfriend until I told them I was moving to Costa Rica! And that was after 6 months living together in the states. I don't advertise information. If people ask, I tell them. That's about it.

[squeeker]

If people ask me, I'll tell them.

But I tend not to say too much about my boyfriend unless they ask because I don't want to look like that girl who's always going on about her boyfriend.. especially if I'm talking to people who might be single and don't want to hear about it or whatever. I'm trying to be more open about it whenever there's an opportunity though because I've realized that it will help people get to know about him before he comes here and I have nothing to be ashamed of with him. It's never about being ashamed or embarrassed about how we met (well a little bit in the beginning maybe because I didn't know how to react and I was actually the first person in my friend group to get a boyfriend, which I think they all found a little bit weird lol).. I just get scared about speaking too much about things in my life to others.. I've never really been an open person.

[Lilly9886]

I talk about my bf a lot - especially when I'm with my friends or cousins (all of them know him) and my family and my relatives also always ask about him..
I have it on facebook, so it's no secret at all, and if people that I don't know that well, ask me, I tell them.. also when I meet new people and the topic fits, I mention that I have a boyfriend..

I haven't met anybody yet, who said something bad or offensive about my relationship (at least not to my face).

[kittyo9]

Sometimes I refrain from talking about my boyfriend when I'm around family or judgemental people simply because it makes me uncomfortable. I don't like the excess attention and they tend to baby me, like, "Aww, she has a wittle boyfwiend, let's talk about it." They ask questions I'm not comfortable talking about with them, because I'm not really that open with them in the first place.

[efish1042]

My SO and I are pretty private anyway. I don't bandy it about. I also don't really hide it.
An example: my facebook says "in a relationship" but not "with..."
If people want to know, I tell them. Most of the people that know are really nice and ask me questions, but most people in my program at school didn't even know I was dating anyone for a really long time.
When I'm with my SO, we aren't very PDA. When we aren't together, we still don't throw it in people's faces that we're together.
Part of that is that we're both just private and part of is that we're so young, long distance, and have a significant age difference. It just makes our lives easier to keep it between us, our families, and a few trusted friends.

[Kristin91]

I talk about my SO all the time! I can't seem to not talk about him But I am very careful who gets to see/know how serious we are. I've had people jump down my throats about it before, and I do not like that experience!

[Sora1101]

It depends, it's not like I hide it, if someone asks me out or about my relationship I tell them honestly that we met online but if people don't ask about it I don't tell them, I know some people that judge me on it, but I'm not out to please anyone, I know my SO makes me happy regardless of where he is, that's all that matters.

[Dauntedpoet]

I have learned to be a very private person when it comes to my SO. It is something that is opposite of my normal personality.

I found I had zero support when I talked to friends and family about my SO and our relationship. My SO had been visiting here for 10 years, and people who 'loved' him those first 5 years all of a sudden had nothing good to say about him. Family and friends were more than willing to point out every reason it couldn't and wouldn't work out. My SO is an extremely private person so only he only talks about 'us' with his sister, parents and one common online friend we have.

I love talking about my SO but I choose carefully, and usually its people that have no real role in my life.

Online friends ROCK! They've always been supportive.

[kirbycat]

I don't really mention my relationship unless someone asks about it, though I make no effort to keep it hidden either. But my SO and I went to college together and were friends "in person" before dating, so we don't have to worry about the stigma that so many whose relationships began online often encounter. We've made our relationship public on Facebook, and we've both told our friends and families about each other. Fortunately, everyone's been very supportive so far.

My SO was kind of hesitant about going Facebook-public with our relationship, when I first asked him about it - although that didn't have so much to do with the fact that we're long-distance. He's kind of shy, and was worried about all the attention that comes with a change in relationship status (whether LD or CD), as well as the response he'd get from girls he's dated in the past. I teased him about the latter concern a bit, but even I was surprised at how little attention we ended up receiving when we did "go public," even from our mutual college friends. There's been no harassment from ex-girlfriends yet, either.

[Zapookie]

Before I met my SO in person, only a couple of my close friends knew about my SO, but they didn't know the extent of our relationship. One of them did say things like "oh you can't trust him because you met him on the internet!" but she and anyone else who said anything bad would have had to eat their words once they met my SO in person :P

Other than this, no one else has really given me crap about my relationship except my mum, but I don't listen to what she has to say on the topic.

Now, I don't talk about it unless someone asks me. I want people to know that even though I'm without my boyfriend, I still have a life and don't spend my days pining away for him like a lovesick puppy. I'm still the same old me. If I'm with my friends though, it's always inevitable that they ask me about him and when he's coming back, to which I give them a general outline because I'm not even sure of the date myself.