Holiday breaks provide a great test for your willpower. Between the stress of preparation, traveling and figuring out how to allocate the short time that you have with loved ones at home, there’s a lot of things on your mind. The state of your relationship may be one of them. After all, if your partner lives in Geneseo, it feels strange to leave them for break—especially for one as long as winter—because you’ve grown accustomed to having them around all the time. And what about your sex life, which will come to a screeching halt even when your desires do not?
Fortunately, your sex life doesn’t have to end because the semester does. There are ways to nourish it while on break—ways that might even bring you and your partner closer than regular sex would.
First, establish that your partner feels comfortable continuing your sex life while over break in order to prevent misunderstandings and hurt feelings. Afterward, determine what you will be comfortable doing. Discussing this is a great way to further learn what interests your partner sexually, which can later be used when you’re reunited.
There’s a wealth of activities you can engage in to satisfy your sex drive. The riskiest of these are probably the first that come to mind—sexting. Exchanging naked photos of yourself to your partner is satisfying in the moment, but it carries a lot of risk, especially if your partner saves the images.
You must always entertain the possibility that you might one day break up with your partner, no matter how unlikely it feels in the moment. Even a person that you would not expect to send your naked photos to others in revenge can surprise you, especially under the stress of a breakup.
If you choose to engage in this, consider using Snapchat to send your photos, which will send a notification if your partner screenshots the image. If you want to go a step further, download the app Bleep. Unlike Snapchat, the app’s server does not save anything after the recipient reads it, and screenshotting is impossible, which makes it good for sending sexual images.
Sexting, however, is not the only way to keep your sex life active. You could Skype or call one another, though these methods might be a bit loud, making them less than ideal for people in large families or small houses.
If set up right, though, Skyping or calling a partner is a more instantaneous form of sexual communication. It is also one that can be paired with masturbation or sex toys. Calling especially lends itself to guided masturbation, where one partner instructs the other as to how they should masturbate—usually through teasing them. This is also a good way to explore power roles in your relationship.
Whatever you choose to do, take it as an opportunity to learn about your partner. It will make your sex when you return to school all the more satisfying.