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I Spent Valentine’s Day Alone

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Toronto MU chapter.

I spent Valentine’s Day alone. I still got up and went to work, but I was very much romantically alone. I have never had a valentine on Valentine’s Day. That sentence carries a lot of weight. We automatically equate being alone with being sad, and therefore put so much pressure on ourselves and others to be with someone, especially on a day like February 14th. This is why parents work so hard to fix up their adult children. They want to see them happy and a dominant belief surrounding true happiness is that it only comes when you’re in a relationship. I think our ideas of relationships have become so distorted. There is so much pressure to find your perfect person without having the time to evolve into the perfect version of ourselves we want to be. 

via GIPHY

This year I stopped talking to someone I really cared about two days before Valentine’s Day. Of course I was upset about parting ways with this person, but my brain also automatically thought, “Can you believe you are going to be alone on Valentine’s Day again?” I was so fixated on being with someone, anyone, that I negated to see how Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate the people who we love. I ended up exchanging cards and gifts with my best friends and my family, and not only did I feel more loved than I ever have, but it made me kind of rethink my entire way of looking at relationships. 

I think this is something that I needed to hear, and writing it down here for you is helping me come to terms with the fact that being with someone romantically is not the goal. I have always felt embarrassed by the fact that I am single, absolutely chronically single. But being alone, with myself, just me, isn’t so bad. There are so many people and places for us to devote our love to, and an entire life to live. 

via GIPHY

I do love love, and I 100% support relationships. But I think we just need to realize that we are the only consistent things in our lives, and without celebrating love for ourselves, our lives will be a lot less full. This Valentine’s Day I was alone, but also very much filled with love. 

Marina Arnone

Toronto MU '21

Marina is a fourth year English student at Ryerson University. She loves to write about beauty and fashion with the hopes of creating a little escape from everyday life! As a huge astrology fan, Marina identifies as a true Pisces and romanticizes every inch of life. She hopes to create articles that will inspire others the same way she has been so inspired by writing!
Zainab is a 4th-year journalism student from Dubai, UAE who is the Editor-in-Chief of Her Campus at Ryerson. When she's not taking photos for her Instagram or petting dogs on the street, she's probably watching a rom-com on Netflix or journaling! Zainab loves The Bold Type and would love to work for a magazine in New York City someday! Zainab is a feminist and fierce advocate against social injustice - she hopes to use her platform and writing to create change in the world, one article at a time.