Valentines Day and the Single Girl

Here's the deal, I have never been a huge fan of Valentines Day, even when I had a boyfriend. My version of the perfect holiday is when I'm surrounded by family and friends laughing, eating and playing board games, not feeling the obligatory pressure to go out to eat on the most crowded restaurant day of the year and then explain to all that ask the next day what magical romantic memories I made on the Day of Love (as I typed that sentence, I'm coming to terms of why I am single haha). 

Here are my issues with this holiday, and no I'm not going to say it's a Hallmark holiday, because if you're going to use that excuse you might as well say that Christmas is a Toys R' Us Holiday and that St. Patricks Day is a Liquor Store Holiday. All holidays involve some version of spending money so that really isn't the point of my dislike because I love receiving presents. Some people really love Valentines Day and the opportunity to have their boyfriend take them out/buy them things, and I'm all for respecting people's right to love a stupid holiday. 

Okay, back to why I don't like it.... first of all, I don't like red roses because they are so typical... like, buy me something cooler than flowers that are going to die in 5 days that every other girl in America also received (real original boys). Second of all, those boxes of candy placed in a heart shaped box are gross. I don't know anyone who likes that type of chocolate and when I received them they sat in my fridge for 2 months until I threw them out when the Easter candy started to pile in. Heres a tip for my future suitors: buy me a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups, I will enjoy them a lot more and I won't be forced to bite into a random mystery candy only to discover there is some weird nasty fruity cream inside it. Third of all, I get grumpy whenever I have to wait till later than 6:00 to eat dinner, so the fact that restaurants are always packed and the service is always terrible makes me pretty HANGRY (hungry/angry-- a consistent emotion in my everyday life). 

This will be my first Valentines Day as a single girl in 6 YEARS and while I've been slowly (successfully?) navigating the world of being single for the first time in my adult life, this will also be the first time in those 6 months that I am faced with a day that is solely made for people who are attached to other people. And honestly, I'm kind of relieved that I don't have to be forced to celebrate Valentines Day. Instead I will be celebrating 'Gal-entines Day' (thanks Diary of a Debutante for the hilarious term), with my girlfriends. We will probably be getting dinner (hopefully at a place where I wont have to wait for my meal.... does Taco Bell seem sad/desperate?), and most likely having a better time than most couples on Valentines Day.

My advice to my single lady readers is to view Valentines Day as a day to celebrate YOU, because you're awesome and if you don't feel awesome, make the changes that will make you feel awesome (If anything else, go out and treat yourself to a new pair of shoes because they're better than a crappy box of chocolates anyway). And for those ladies who have a special someone that they love, I hope that your significant other treats you like everyday is Valentines Day because you're worth it. I'm the happiest I've been in awhile and couldn't be more excited to see what the rest of the year brings, mainly because I only have to rely on myself to make sure I'm content. I can do what I want, at anytime I want and don't have to hold myself back from any dreams I hope to accomplish-- and that will be the best Valentines Day gift a girl could ask for. 

xoxo