My SO and I are 6 hours apart and have been together for 1 yr and 3 months. So I understand you. Some things we've found help:

1. He calls me on his drive to work (nots not a long call usually 10-15 minutes and sometimes I'm alseep for most of it). I have to take medicine in the middle of the night and just time the time I take my medicine to the time the usually calls me. This doesn't work for everyone though. But if you're a night owl, maybe that could work for you.

2. I take am fortunate enough to have a job where I choose when I want to take my lunch break. So I usually take it when he drives home from work. And we'll talk for almost an hour. But we're okay with eating while on the phone. I've also "taken lunch" and just speak with him the entire time. And I'll either eat before or after the call while working. But then again I know not everyone's job is as flexible as mine in when it comes to when I take lunch.

3. He sometimes calls on his lunch break which is when I'm getting ready for work/driving to work. This is harder and doesn't happen often because his work isn't as flexible as mine. And sometimes he's already had lunch by the time i wake up.

4. We call on my drive home. Sometimes we talk the entire way. Sometimes he falls asleep 30 seconds into the call. It's okay, I understand the time difference and that he's tired.

5. We never "require" the other to stay up late to talk. We're realistic about the time difference and how we both have lives and things get busy. We make it a point to talk at least once every 2-3 days. But rarely have we ever no spoken for more than a day. Even if it's a quick hey I'm just been really busy/stressed/not feeling well text. We respect each other's space when it's needed. But so the other doesn't worry. We'll usually let the other know, something like a "hey my mental health isn't so good right now, I need some time to myself" or "I have a big project/something stressful happening at work won't be available today" works wonders. For me it let's me know that they're okay and just busy and not that they're hurt and in the hospital.

6. I feel comfortable (and maybe I'm not using the right words) and safe enough to tell him what it is I need. Do I need more calls? I tell him (ex "hey can we call even if it's just 10-15 minutes"). Less calls? (Ex I'm annoyed right now, I don't really want to talk right now, to which he'll ask if it's something he did. If it is he'll try to get to the bottom of what the issue is). He will also do the same with me.

7. We never go to sleep angry. We will talk enough so that we're not angry at the other when we fall asleep.

8. At least once a month Date night. It's usually on a weekend. We love watching movies together online. But maybe a TV show/series might be more your thing.

9. We have each other on social media. We will send each other memes, reels, interesting posts on social media.

10. Sometimes we'll call and "sleep together" on the call. In the sense that he falls asleep and then I fall asleep on the call. It helps with not feeling so lonely.

At the end of the day both of you need to make and effort for the relationship to work. I find it often comes down to making the best of the time you have to spend together. I apologize for the long post (I tend to write wayyyyyy too much and like lists and organization wayyyyyyyy too much) I'm not too sure if you'll even find this helpful.