So this Friday is Valentine’s Day. And I don’t have a boyfriend.
By transitive property, this must mean that I’ll be spending February 14th locked in my room crying my eyes out as I binge on Nicholas Sparks movies and chocolate I bought for myself from CVS. At least, that’s what anyone who has ever seen a chick flick, skimmed through a teen magazine or gone on the Internet during the first two weeks of February probably assumes.
I don’t know about you, but I cannot remember one V-Day when I participated in any of those activities. Well, okay, except for the chocolate, but to be fair that’s a pretty common occurrence for me. It’s not like I’m just SO happy and empowered to be single or anything. Honestly, it would be nice to have a boyfriend to buy me jewelry and take me out to a romantic dinner, even if I do think it’s a pretty cheesy holiday. But I don’t spend all of my time sitting around wishing for a Valentine’s Day date, and the fact that media acts like I should – that all single girls should – is pretty sad. Because that basically implies that we don’t have anything more important to do than mope around thinking about boys.
Here’s the thing – the world doesn’t stop just because it’s Valentine’s Day. No one’s forcing you to spend the day staring at couples holding hands on the quad or obsessively refreshing Facebook to read all the mushy, lovey-dovey statuses and couple selfies being posted. You can do anything you want! Ditch those date functions and hit up a themed party with your girls – you can even scope out a valentine of your own if you want. Go out to dinner and a movie, and annoy the obnoxious couples all around you if they get too overwhelming. Blast Beyoncé and do the Single Ladies dance with all your single friends. I could go on and on, but the point I’m trying to get at here is that there are literally hundreds of things you could be doing with your night, so don’t let anyone make you feel like you need to be sitting around moping just because some boy was too dumb to ask you out on a silly date.
Most importantly, don’t let this one lame holiday make you feel alone or unloved just because you don’t have that “special someone” to share it with. There are plenty of people out there who love you – your family, your friends, your dog. So before you crank up the Taylor Swift and start your pity party, go find some of your friends or call home to remind yourself of how many people love and care about you.
Because in the end, Valentine’s Day is exactly like every other day of the year except that sometimes you get free chocolate. And in my opinion, that’s nothing to cry about – it’s something to celebrate.