Captain Ri is the King of Long Distance Relationships

If you're currently stuck in a long distance relationship (whether because of COVID-19 or just in general), you might wanna take some tips from Captain Ri Jeong-hyuk, who has perfected the role of Long Distance King in 'Crash Landing on You'.

Surprise them often.

Just because you are far away from each other at the moment doesn't mean that you should stop putting in effort in surprising the person you love. Captain Ri does this in various ways. For starters, he records himself playing the song that saved Se-ri's life on the piano and then tells her to listen to it at night when she has trouble falling asleep instead of taking a bunch of meds like she tends to do. (Huhu. Relate much?)

He also surprises her in the form of the books above and by sending Se-ri a gift: a potted plant that she needs to nurture and take care of.

The plant ends up growing into Edelweiss... and my heart could hardly contain itself. This is a flower that can be found in Europe (where I grew up) and also happens to be extra close to my heart because 'The Sound of Music' was my favorite movie as a child.

Send them messages frequently.

Captain Ri had to go the extra mile by scheduling all of his messages in advance for a year. Thanks to technology, though, and the fact that you probably don't have the same limitations as Captain Ri and Se-ri; you shouldn't have any trouble sending your loved one messages on a regular basis.

Your messages don't even have to be super long or too intricately thought out. A simple 'I miss you' or 'I'm thinking of you' or 'Smile, babe' can do wonders at uplifting their mood - trust me.

Plan long distance dates.

Since you can't spend time together physically, set long distance dates in the form of things that you can do together even from afar. Captain Ri tells Yoon Se-ri to take a walk for 30 minutes at 12:30PM everyday, for example, and does the same everyday so that they somehow still feel like they are doing an activity together.

He also reminds her to eat an apple every morning and does the same at home.

Remind them to take care of themselves.

Captain Ri always sends Se-ri cute little reminders to look after herself - physically, socially, and emotionally - and take care of herself since he can't be by her side to look after her.

Be careful of how you phrase your reminders, though, as they could easily come off as annoying or controlling if done wrong.

Continue to teach them life skills.

I always say that relationships are useless without growth. I believe that you should always help each other grow in various areas of your lives. And that is exactly what Captain Ri does without being by Se-ri's side, leaving her steps on how to cook (because she can't cook for shit lol) and even steps on how to grow plants.

Don't stop sharing things with them.

You might feel like you'll run out of things to say if you converse with your loved one all the time... but this isn't true. If they love you, they won't get sick of hearing from you. And you don't even have to talk about anything too deep. Just share little facts that you might know, no matter how boring you might think they are. They're sure to appreciate learning something new everyday.

Talk about the things that you love often, as well. Not only will they immerse themselves in the things that you are passionate about and form a stronger bond with you because of it; they'll always end up thinking about you when that topic comes up, as well.

Give them something to look forward to. 

Lastly, make sure to give your significant other something to look forward to. As distant as the occasion may be or as impossible as things might feel at the moment, talking about your dreams and plans for the future together will give your loved one a glimmer of hope - something to look forward to and hold onto as they go about their day-to-day life.

How are you keeping the love alive during the current quarantine? :)