Every year dozens of flowers and tonnes of chocolate are bought in hopes to show our loved ones affection. 

Don’t get me wrong, I think it can be cute and I love celebrating everything all the time. But I think there might be a fine line between celebrating love and being pressured into celebrating a commercial holiday.

I was 25 when I started dating. Didn’t even give it much thought until then.

Most of my friends know how technical and process driven I can be. And I was over analytical about EVERYTHING.

It’s scary now for me to think about this because I have a little girl and I know she’ll be navigating this world later.

I dated several guys in a short amount of time and quickly became desensitized over the process. 

I didn’t want to date friends cause that was too messy.  

I didn’t want to date friends of friends (tried once but it was too weird for me).

I did go on a couple dates with this guy I met at a nightclub. We watched Bruno for our second date and haha that was the end of that – and any other future dates with guys I met at bars/clubs.

So, being my technical over analytical-self, I hit the world wide web and eventually the smart phone app Tinder. I filtered based on personality and the first few messages (whether he was actually interesting to talk to).

I went on a lot of first dates. But none lasted long enough to deem celebrating a Valentines with.

And when this holiday rolled around I remember it made me feel extra sensitive. 

When you’re alone on this holiday it can be hard. Even when you are confident with yourself and happy with your current situation it might seem like something is missing. 

The billion dollar marketing campaigns created to make you feel like someone is supposed to give you a token of their love really impacts our psychology. And with capitalism these days these ads for this holiday have been running for weeks already.

Even when I was in a serious relationship (with the guy who is now my husband) I really felt this day was a load of baloney. The expectations that are built and the amount of money spent with it can be ridiculous.

Why just one day to shower each other with love and affection? And why does it need to be instigated by commercial profit purposes?! 

So if you exist on this day and are feeling a little blue, just remember this holiday is profit driven and you don’t need to participate. 

(You can if you want but YOU get to decide)