Today, being the international day of love, will most likely be filled with teddy bear’s chocolates, flowers and more gifts exchanged between couples. Valentine’s Day is a cute way to show your affection toward somebody, but do we really need a holiday to express our love to someone?

I’m not in any way hating on Valentine’s Day; I think it’s adorable and really fun. However, I just believe that it’s too commercialized and we shouldn’t depend on a holiday to feel loved and appreciated. A lot of people tend to feel discouraged if they don’t have a partner to do special things with on this day. I just recently got out of a relationship so it is a little harder this year, but I do not feel like it is the end of the world that I don’t have a “valentine.”

My advice for the people who aren’t in relationships and feeling upset is to do something with friends or for yourself. For example, I am inviting a few of my friends over to bake Valentine’s Day related things and just hang out together. You could treat yourself to food, take a bubble bath, watch a movie, do whatever you want. We are in high school and we have our entire lives ahead of us- we don’t need a boyfriend or girlfriend to tell us how important we are because we should know that already.

I like to view Valentine’s Day as a way to express appreciation toward everyone you love rather than just a significant other. If you’re single, you shouldn’t feel left out of this holiday because you can just look at it as love toward people in general. Love is such a universal term that you can interpret in any way you want. It does not have to mean infatuation between one partner and another.