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Like every holiday with its own Hallmark cards, Valentine’s Day has baggage – it’s commercial, it’s somehow connected to a saint from ancient Rome. But recent Valentine’s Days have been reclaimed, making room for everyone to take part.
In our busy modern world it can be hard to take a break and spend time with those you love. Valentine’s Day is an annual, public reminder to take this time and cherish the special people in your life. It’s a reminder to say, “I love you.”
Valentine’s Day often leaves many single people feeling alienated and lonely. But it doesn’t have to be a holiday reserved for love-birds to make dinner plans and kindergartners to cut hearts out of construction paper.
Because here’s the thing – Valentine’s Day can be about more than one kind of love.
The modern version of Valentine’s Day is growing to be more than a celebration of romantic love and couples: it is becoming about celebrating your love for everyone in your life.
Many reject Valentine’s Day for different reasons, calling it a marketing ploy for the flower and chocolate industry – with the average American spending nearly $50 to $100 on Valentine’s Day gifts. This is true, but it’s avoidable.
New Valentine’s Day-derivative holidays are springing up all over the place, subverting the traditional tone of the day. There are new celebrations like “Palentine’s Day,” where you get together with friends to eat pizza and watch movies – or “Galentine’s Day” on Feb. 13 or 15, where you stock up on half-price chocolate with your girl friends.
These may seem frivolous on the surface, but they’re important ways for people to express spending the day of love with the people they love.
Valentine’s Day can be about so much more than romantic love, it can be about appreciating the people in our lives, especially ourselves. Even if that means spending the day getting together with your friends and bashing your exes.
Something to do on this day is to go out and get a sweet treat. Go to a local bakery and get something good to munch on. Another option is to head to a donut shop and get a heart-shaped donut or a Valentine’s Day themed coffee. With a new coffee shop in town, there can be ways to create special drinks to celebrate the holiday. Buy candy or flowers. Even if they’re for yourself or for someone else, they liven up any space. Go get your nails done or buy yourself something nice, you deserve it.
So, cuffed or not, don’t forget to tell the people in your life that you love them on Feb. 14 – because ultimately, Valentine’s Day is what you make of it.