For many Valentine’s day is a day of love and celebration.  But for some it can bring a sense of loneliness as the clouds of sadness rush in as they prepare to celebrate Singles Awareness Day.  Seeing others get flowers at work, exchanging gifts, dining together or even the multiple proposals that often ensue on social media feeds can leave a single feeling more like a Scrooge than a Cupid.  I know because I’ve been there, where my response to a chipper ‘Happy Valentine’s Day!’ was a grumpy ‘bahumbug’.  But not this year!  What’s changed?  I realized that I have a bunch of reasons to celebrate life and love as a single and so do you!

1. You have someone to love:  and that someone is you!  Before you can properly love anyone else, you have to fall head over heels in love with the person that looks back at you in the mirror every day.  Self love is the basis of all love, so don’t wallow on the fact that you may not have someone to celebrate the day with and celebrate the fact that you have so much to celebrate.  Get focused on showing yourself some love, buy some flowers (or in my case a plant), get a massage, order your favorite take out, you deserve to be loved and don’t have to wait for someone outside of your self to do it!
2. You aren’t entertaining randoms:  This is a biggie because you can rest assured that you aren’t lowering your dating standards.  Celebrate the fact that you are saving yourself the headache, pain, drama, and most likely heartbreak of dating someone not worthy of your time and efforts.
3. You aren’t blocking love:  By not dealing with randoms or people that have no intentions of being in your life long term, you are allowing the door to remain open for the right person to walk right on in, no strings attach.  You can use your single days to better yourself for yourself as well as prepare for the relationship you desire.
4. You can focus on other relationships: I know, I know, who really wants to spend valentines day with a bunch of friends?  Especially since the day is for lovers.  But shifting your focus can ultimately be life changing and dong so on this day is no different.  If you find yourself wallowing in the fact that the joy of having a significant other has eluded you this valentines day call on your single friends!  Get out of the house and do something together, laugh a lot and enjoy the fact that you know some pretty awesome people!
5. You can be a giver:  Let’s face it, we’ve all looked at a couple that seemed to be so in love on this day and wished a plague on their valentines.  Buuuut, being a hater isn’t going to bring you a mate and one of the best things you can do is to understand that every one has ups and downs in life and your time will soon come.   If you know people that may need some assistance planning their special day or may need your baby sitting services offer to help.   Helping others often makes us feel better and don’t hate, celebrate the fact that they have someone. Besides, you will too one day (probably sooner than you think) and that’s something to celebrate as well!