By Michelle T.
Valentine’s Day, also known as Singles Awareness Day or SAD by my single friends and I, is unfortunately seen as a negative. It’s a love-hate holiday; you love it if you are in a relationship and hate it if you’re not. For those of us who do find ourselves dateless, even if your significant other is just out of town, the 14th of February can really be a great time to focus on others. Service, anyone? There are many widows or elderly single woman around who would love to be visited on this day.

It is so easy to be down on ourselves asking questions like what is wrong with me? Why am I single? Why did so and so and I break up? The truth is things don’t always work out as we imagined they would. There is this picture of how we want our life to be like when are 18, 20, 25, etc. These ideal lives are rarely the reality because it would just be too easy for everything to always fall into place. I am a single young adult, who imagined that I would have a husband and at least a kid by the time I reached my mid-twenties, but I’m not and don’t have many prospects for the near future (that made me feel like I was in a Jane Austen novel).

One thing I have learned is we choose to be happy or sad. Certain situations may lean us towards one feeling or another, but ultimately we choose who we are and how we react in this life.

It’s hard to be service orientated on SAD, because we tend to want to eat junk food with roommates/friends that are also single or perhaps crazily go out to dinner with a bunch of girls and ignore the cozy couple at the next table. Or maybe you feel like having a “woe is me” party.

If you find yourself single this Valentine’s Day, as I plan to, may I suggest getting out of your comfort zone and cheering up an elderly woman? Or planning a get together with other singles to lift their spirits? Or both? It benefits all involved. If you do something nice for someone, treat yourself too. New clothes, cookies, and chocolate can be a welcomed treat (and you know exactly what you like).

Michelle T., BA English