Hello everyone, I'm sure we all know what today is. That's right, it's Valentine's Day. But just as importantly, or perhaps even more so, it is also Singles Awareness/Appreciation Day or S.A.D. The reason I'm saying that it might be more important than even Valentine's Day is not to undermine romantic love and all its goodness, but for the simple fact that there are a lot more single people out there than there are couples. And as one of those single people, I feel like I should remind those of us that have a bitter attitude towards love or those who have simply given up that it really isn't so bad to be single. I know what you're thinking, but hear me out.
Maybe you've (recently) gone through a break up, or had feelings for someone who didn't reciprocate them, or maybe it's just that you've never really had much luck in this particular department; but the fact remains that there are a lot of us out there who feel less than overjoyed when Valentine's Day comes around. It's the one day of the year that encourages (happy) couples to display their happiness and rub it in your face with all those flowers and chocolates and what not; at least...that's what it seems like to those of us who feel miserably lonely on this one day of the year. But guess what? Love can be found in many places other than in a significant other, just not the romantic kind. I'm talking about with your family, friends, and even yourself. I mean, romantic love is nice and all, what with all those butterflies in your stomach and that emotional high whenever you're together with that special someone, but there's also a flip side. For every emotional up there has got to be an emotional down, it's just humanly impossible to remain at such a consistently high level of happiness (a.k.a. the period known as the honeymoon phase for couples), and in the case of a break up, the damage can be quite severe. Now you might be thinking: there's also emotional ups and downs with family and friends, so we're not really that much better off. Yes there are times when we argue with family and friends, and sometimes we might even have a falling out with one of them. But the thing about family is that, you can't choose which family you're born into (something my dad told me when I was a kid); you've only got the one. So no matter how bad the falling out or how much you think you might hate that person, eventually things will work themselves out because they have to; that's what a family does. Friends are a different matter; you might really end up losing that friend for good. But the thing about friends is that you have more than the one, so even if you do lose one the damage wouldn't be as terrible as losing your partner; and chances are if that friend didn't stick around, didn't put in the effort, then they probably weren't that good a friend to begin with. So yes there are still ups and downs with family and friends, but compared to those of a romantic relationship, things feel pretty stable. Family and some select friends are permanent and always there for you, but the person you're dating may not be.
I mentioned earlier that love can also be found with yourself, and I meant it. A little self love now and then is a tremendously good thing to have. I'm not saying worship yourself to the point of narcissism, but a healthy dose of self love can go a long way. So let yourself take a break once in a while, buy yourself something nice if it catches your eye, or just treat yourself to an especially nice meal every now and then; because you know you deserve it.
And with all that said, I would like to wish all my single friends out there a very happy Singles Appreciation Day. Make sure to celebrate with other singles if you haven't this year!
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