Valentine’s Day. For some, it is a day to celebrate with someone you love. For others, it’s the worst day to be on social media. One couple after another: Instagram quickly becomes the epicenter of every single person’s worst nightmare. It’s also the worst nightmare of boyfriends who always forget when it comes up and scramble to pick up something for their partner at the last minute.
Though in recent years, things like “Galentine’s,” wherein you spend Valentine’s Day with your friends instead of a partner, have emerged, the holiday can still make us feel less than if we don’t have a partner to celebrate it with. It has also become a capitalist venture (as most holidays now are) that thrives on selling flowers, cards, chocolates, and gifts. How did we get from a holiday that celebrated a Christian martyr to one that seems superficial? Not only is it a day that seems more for big companies to make as much money as possible, but it also promotes unnecessary waste to the planet. These gifts and cards are quickly discarded and their production damages our ecosystem.
It’s not inherently negative to have a day dedicated in the year to celebrate the people we love, but I think we live in a day and age where it has become bad to be single, and Valentine’s Day just highlights that. But is this really a bad thing? Are we really not complete without having a partner? Why do we emphasize celebrating one type of love on this day instead of celebrating all types of love?
When I talked to my friends about being single on Valentine’s Day, everyone agreed that it feels like a punch in the gut. But can we claim the holiday for our own? Can we post our best friends that we are grateful for instead of the partners we don’t have? Or is it just easier to get off social media the whole day, forget it even exists, and instead binge-watch movies all day? I’m personally in favor of doing both. I think spending the whole day with your girlfriends, doing something fun, and spending the day off social media is the best way to go. While I may not like the holiday, I can appreciate that it is a day to think about those you love, romantically or otherwise <3