the truth about being in an ‘online’ relationship

15th February 2016

The majority of us will spend a considerable amount of time on the internet every day, week, month. More than we would probably be willing to admit. And whilst I completely disagree with anyone who tries to tell me I’m being anti social whilst connecting with my friends and family across the world via social media, it is still important to be present in the moment. Having found love on the internet and now living happily in a rather ‘online’ relationship where we both have our own online presence, act as each others photographers and often find ourselves booked for the same campaign entailing us to live and work together under the same roof, it certainly is not easy and it became apparent pretty early on that there would need to be a balance between the two. Whilst what we do seems to be working, we are by no means masters and some situations are harder than others.   [lem_title]TRUST[/lem_title] This is single handily the most important factor of every single relationship that you will ever have. But put yourself online and it can get a whole new level of complex. People always ask how I deal with the attention that my partner gets and my reply is always the same. I don’t have to deal with it because I trust him to always act respectfully and he has never let me down. From my past experiences I realised that if you don’t trust someone, there’s usually a reason for it and you should always trust your gut. If someone wants to be trusted then they will give you no reason not to. So whether your partner gets sent endless naked snaps from people across the world or is simply off for a night out with the boys, it shouldn’t be an […]

The majority of us will spend a considerable amount of time on the internet every day, week, month. More than we would probably be willing to admit. And whilst I completely disagree with anyone who tries to tell me I’m being anti social whilst connecting with my friends and family across the world via social media, it is still important to be present in the moment.

Having found love on the internet and now living happily in a rather ‘online’ relationship where we both have our own online presence, act as each others photographers and often find ourselves booked for the same campaign entailing us to live and work together under the same roof, it certainly is not easy and it became apparent pretty early on that there would need to be a balance between the two. Whilst what we do seems to be working, we are by no means masters and some situations are harder than others.

[lem_title]TRUST[/lem_title]

This is single handily the most important factor of every single relationship that you will ever have. But put yourself online and it can get a whole new level of complex. People always ask how I deal with the attention that my partner gets and my reply is always the same. I don’t have to deal with it because I trust him to always act respectfully and he has never let me down. From my past experiences I realised that if you don’t trust someone, there’s usually a reason for it and you should always trust your gut. If someone wants to be trusted then they will give you no reason not to. So whether your partner gets sent endless naked snaps from people across the world or is simply off for a night out with the boys, it shouldn’t be an issue.

[lem_title]WORKING AS A TEAM[/lem_title]

During the winter months blogging is exceptionally unglamorous, there’s not much to enjoy about outfit shooting in sub zero temperatures and it can mean that your patience wears rather thin. But aside from the temperature sometimes getting the perfect shot takes longer than others and boyfriends make perfect punch bags right? Well not exactly but it doesn’t change the fact that Ali and I experience these times too. When things seem to go wrong and it all feels like their fault but it doesn’t get us anywhere arguing. There have been some incredibly tough times where Ali has constantly pushed me and supported me in order to get something finished when I am ready to simply give up. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to wring his neck sometimes for good measure.

[lem_title]BOUNDARIES[/lem_title]

By far the hardest of all is knowing when enough is enough. How much is too much to share of our relationship with you guys? We aren’t about to share a blazing row with you but in the same breath we don’t want to leave you with “fairy tale” unrealistic expectations of how relationships are supposed to be. But then we realised that some things simply aren’t our responsibility. We can tell you about our current health and lifestyles, we can recommend beauty and grooming products and we can show you how we style the current trends but realising that our relationship is just that, OURS was an epiphany which we both welcomed. Whilst we can be honest and say that we do argue and we do bicker our relationship doesn’t need to be laid bare in order for you to understand what’s to be expected of your future relations.

[lem_title]COMPETITION[/lem_title]

Being competitive is a good thing when in the right situation. When I was 13 I wanted to be the best 100m Sprinter in the county, and whilst I never quite claimed the title I pushed myself as hard as I could against my competitors to be the best I could be. It was healthy, it was friendly and it taught me a lot.

But being competitive in a relationship (of any kind), really isn’t something anyone should actively seek out in my honest opinion and this goes back to being a team player, picking the person up when they need a hand, not flying off the handle because they gained a few more blog followers than you and supporting, always supporting, really is important.

In the past if I’ve ever felt a partner or a friend does want to compete with me I just channel that energy into my content or my life and I think that’s a really positive way to deal with something negative.