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This post is – and isn’t – about journalism.

Six months ago today, I started my job at POLITICO, covering the moment-to-moment developments of the 2012 presidential race. If you know me well, or even just a little bit, you know that I love campaigns and elections and have always aimed to do this kind of reporting.

So, when the chance came to work for a company that I have always admired, I leapt. But it also meant making a really hard choice: moving halfway across the country from all of the important people in my life, including my boyfriend.

With a new flock of journalism graduates spilling out of colleges and universities across the country – some who will face that same tough decision – I thought I’d offer a couple of brief comments on surviving long distance, or how we’ve made it work.

I don’t blog about my relationship often , but I have learned that you can’t always separate the personal from the professional, and I think I’m better at what I do in the newsroom because I have the full support of the important people in my life.

Communicate: When I found out I was a finalist for the job, I went to my boyfriend with all the details and we talked it out. At the time, he was finishing his undergrad degree in Missouri so it meant that we would be voluntarily putting 1,000 miles between ourselves at least in the short-term. Notice I titled this tip communicate, not talk? Listening is the important part.  No matter how close you and your partner/spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend are, make sure to listen to what they’re saying and find out how they’re feeling every step of the way.  If you’re anything like me, and not a warm fuzzy person, it’s going to be emotionally exhausting.  But it’s worth it to check-in every so often and make sure feelings haven’t changed. I’m incredibly lucky to be in a relationship with the kind of person who gave me his full support to chase my dream and pursue a profession I love.

Figure out what works for you: I am not a phone person.  Save a couple of girlfriends who can keep me chatting for an hour or more, I am not a fan of long phone conversations.  My boyfriend isn’t either, so we communicate mostly via texts, emails and Facebook messages.  I can count on hearing from him at least once a day, and even if it’s just a message about what’s going on with his job or something silly a mutual friend did at the bar, it’s a much-needed part of my day.

Don’t keep score:  For a lot of personal reasons, I do more traveling than my boyfriend does. At one point, my mother asked me whether I resented that and if it was “fair” to me.  The way I see it, there’s no “fair” in a long-term relationship.  For me, it’s not about keeping a running mental total of who visits who more or who spends more money or who does more of anything.  It’s a relationship, not a checkbook register.  I made a conscious decision when I got into a relationship (and reaffirmed it when I moved) that I would never hold money or logistics over my boyfriend’s head. It just breeds animosity.

Live a little: When I first moved to DC, it felt like every time I went out to do something fun, I was thinking about how hard it was to live it up in a city that didn’t involve someone who was such a huge part of my life.  I’ll be the first to admit that it affected my overall demeanor. While I was doing great at work, I had no personal life to speak of and wasn’t fully taking advantage of this amazing city.  Six months later, I think I’ve gotten more of a hang of that balance.  Of course, I’d love it if we were experiencing this together as a couple, but there’s no reason to feel guilty for having fun on your own.

I’m borrowing from a much-needed support email from a friend who is something of a long-distance veteran here, but it’s the perfect way to wrap up this post:

I can honestly say that after all this time apart that old saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” isn’t entirely accurate but absence does make the heart realize what it wants and what it’s willing to fight for. If you two can get through this, just think how much easier or less significant 99% of other problems you’ll face in life will be.