Jessica Lawrence

Feb. 14 of every year is a day to celebrate your relationship with your partner, but not everyone has a special someone.  Couples take this day to show each other how much they love the other, whether it be with the standard chocolate and flowers, or with a romantic candlelit dinner for two underneath the stars.  Though it’s nice to have someone special on Valentine’s Day, not everyone does.  For those of us who don’t, here are some ideas as to how you can be your own Valentine and how to love yourself on this heart-filled day:

Take care of you.  You can’t always rely on others to make you happy, so take the day to find out what makes you happy, on your own.  Don’t wait for someone else to come along and take care of you because you know you can do it by yourself.  

Don’t wait for the chocolate flower.  Chocolate, on a day like Valentine’s Day, isn’t always cheap and there isn’t always someone there to buy you the chocolate flower from Dietsch’s that you crave.  Buy your own chocolates; you know you deserve them.  

Don’t wait for the flowers, either.  You’ve walked the halls at school and have seen the fliers advertising carnations that were sold at lunch two weeks ago.  You had the depressing thought that no one would buy one for you and you love flowers.  So grab your wallet and go buy yourself some flowers, all ready! Not only will you be happy you finally got some roses, they’ll brighten your room sitting on your nightstand.

Treat yourself.  Maybe there’s an amazing restaurant five minutes from your house you’ve been wanting to try, or you still have those coupons for a free massage at the spa from your last birthday you haven’t yet used.  Treat yourself to a nice spa day or take yourself out to dinner somewhere nice.  On this celebratory day for couples, treat yourself and celebrate your single status.

Girls night out.  So you’re not the only one from your group of friends that’s single on Valentine’s Day and none of you want to spend it alone.  Grab your friends and go out to dinner or a movie, go shopping, have a sleepover, something! Don’t waste your night thinking about how lonely you feel today and don’t stay in your room all night watching Titanic: you know you’ll cry at the end, you’ve seen it a hundred times.  Spend time with your single besties and rediscover that you don’t need a boy to feel complete and happy when you have your friends.

Watch anything but Titanic.  So maybe you’re the type that likes to stay home and watch TV instead of going out; that’s okay.  Maybe you’re the type that, instead of watching sappy movies on days like Valentine’s Day, you like watching slasher movies, knowing there’s no way you can feel alone if all you watch is Jaws or A Nightmare on Elm Street.  No matter what your cup of tea is when it comes to movies, pop a bowl of popcorn, make yourself comfortable on that couch and grab a movie or two you know you love to watch.  (So long as it’s not The Notebook.  You don’t need to watch movies that like today because all they’ll do is make you cry and think that you’ll never find your Noah Calhoun.)