Oh, Valentine’s Day. When I was a kid, I longed to be given a gift by my latest school crush. Then, I grew older and fell in love…which led to putting way too much pressure on this day.
Now here I am. This week, I’ve been seeing posts about the sad playlists to listen to, the rom-com’s to sob to, and the candy to shovel into the mouths of every single girl (or guy) out there. I just don’t buy it.
Being single isn’t such a bad thing. You hear it all over, but it really is true – you need to love yourself before anyone else can love you (or you can love anyone else). It took time, but I learned to love myself. I don’t need to feel bitter about being single on Valentine’s Day. I may not be in a relationship with anyone, but that doesn’t make the happiness I feel on a day-to-day basis any less validated, does it?
I don’t need someone to shower me with gifts and attention on this day to feel good about myself. I’m going to wake up in the morning, paint my nails with some cute little pink heart design because I’m a sucker for nail art, and go about my Friday just like every other. I’m not going to feel sad about heart-shaped balloons and couples in love. I’m going to be happy for them, and happy for myself, too.
At this point in my life, I have everything that I need. I’m working in the industry that I love. I have an awesome, crazy family and some (but not too many) good friends who always have my back. I have several self-improvement projects that I’m working on. I’m perfectly content within myself.
Honestly, I prefer to be single. I have too much going on in my life right now to worry about making time for someone else. The problem with dating is that sometimes we’re too easy to just jump into dating for dating’s sake. I’m not into that. Why should you spend your time hanging out with someone you’re not even really that interested in, when you could be channeling that time and energy into working on whatever it is that you’re passionate about?
I find that too often people aren’t dreaming enough. They’re so hung up on validating their worth with a relationship or the amount of love they receive that they let go of what’s really, truly important to them. It’s an ugly part of our society, and one that we too easily accept.
So, if you’re single today, join me. Celebrate loving yourself. Celebrate using your single time to paint, play guitar, bake, write, or invent. Do the “Single Ladies” dance around your apartment if you want to – because having the time to love yourself is surely something to be happy about.
baskethouseblues 