Before I get into the reasons why I think Valentine’s Day is overrated you should know that I have not been through some dramatic breakup, I haven’t had my heart shattered to pieces, I don’t have this hatred of men, and I don’t have some personal vendetta against love. As a matter of fact, I am happily engaged to my high school sweetheart as he’s so-called.
So why does someone who’s in a relationship hate Valentine’s Day? It’s simple. I just think it’s a made-up holiday that puts pressure on couples, in my opinion mostly the guy, to do something so over-the-top romantic people won’t stop talking about it until next Valentine’s Day.
You might be thinking to yourself now, “But you’re just saying that because you’re in a long-term relationship. Valentine’s Day is great. Love is great!” To that, I say I agree with you—to an extent.
Love is great, that’s true. So why is there one day out of the year where you have to show your significant other how much they mean to you? Why can’t you do that all year round? Why does there have to be one set day to spoiling your significant other, taking them out to dinner, buying them chocolates and roses, and being totally infatuated with one another? In my opinion, if you’re in love with someone, these things just naturally happen.
Furthermore, not everyone likes today’s version of expressing love. Take my partner and me, for example. People who don’t know us really never suspect we’ve been together as long as we have because we’re not romantic people. Instead, we show love for one another by just spending time together. Sure spending our weekends going grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning doesn’t sound like the ideal weekend to a lot of people but we think any time spent together (regardless the day of the year) is memorable.
The point of this isn’t for me to rant about how much I have a distaste for Valentine’s Day. The point is to show that February 14th shouldn’t be up on such a high pedestal.
If you’re single for Valentine’s Day, who cares? Chances are you were probably single February 13th, and probably will still be single February 15th. Why should it suck so much you’re single on this one day?
If you’re in a relationship, don’t feel forced to go on a date and buy anything with red and pink hearts all over it just because your friend, your roommate, your sibling is doing that. Do what’s right and best for you and your partner.
If this is your first Valentine’s Day with your partner or 50th Valentine’s Day with your partner, ask them what they think about the day and listen to what they say. If you both love Valentine’s Day and think it’s great, go for it! If one of you thinks Valentine’s Day is the greatest thing since sliced bread and the other despises it, one person is going to be much happier than the other.
The most important thing, in my opinion, is to show love for one another every day of the year and not just on February 14th because someone says you have to.