If I were Carrie Bradshaw, I would be able to come up with some article about Valentine’s Day that is empowering to single girls while not making me look like some pathetic loner pining after a boy to spend this Hallmark holiday with. The truth is, I love Valentine’s Day. In the middle of the winter, who doesn’t want to be reminded—especially with flowers, jewelry, chocolate and sex—how much they’re loved? The problem is when you find yourself single, trying to buy a bathing suit in a Victoria’s Secret that looks like Cupid vomited sequins and pink lace all over it, or seated at dinner next to a couple who won’t stop groping each other under the table. I’m the first person to tell you how amazing it is to be single in college, but it’s easy to lose sight of how awesome it is to be young and wild and free when your inbox is filling up with messages from boys asking your opinion on gifts for their girlfriends.
I’ll be honest: sometimes, like on Valentine’s Day or when you need a light bulb on your ceiling changed, being single really sucks. On either occasions, you feel useless, frustrated and more than a little depressed. They are the times that we, as “strong, independent, post-feminist women” (gag me.) are made to believe we need a man, and it really is a pretty shitty feelings. My solution in either of these cases is usually to open a bottle of red wine, turn on The Notebook and remind myself that somewhere, out there, Ryan Gosling really does exist.
This year, while Gosling is hooking up with every girl in Hollywood until he is ready to settle down with me, I’ve decided that it is time to attack my #singlegirlproblems head on. I’ve purchased myself a stepstool and a large reserve of 60-Watt fluorescents, and have recategorized February 14th as a night out on which I can wear pink and late night with chocolate bars and pinot noir. My best (and only other single) friend has appointed herself as my valentine, and the two of us fully intend to spend the evening raging while our couple friends mull over what to order off of the prix-fix Paolo’s menu and inevitably argue about a disappointment in their gift/restaurant/lingerie choice.
The best advice I can give to my fellow single ladies on Valentine’s Day is to embrace the holiday for what it is: an amazing excuse to drink and eat and be merry with all of your other single friends. Don’t be that cliché dramatic chick who cries into a chocolate cake, or that desperate slutty single girl who makes it her personal mission to bring home an equally desperate, slutty single guy from the bar. Just let yourself have fun. Who says you need a boyfriend to gorge yourself on candy hearts (Call me Maybe?) and Dean and Deluca brownies? Your spring break diet can start on the 15th.