There are many reasons to hate Valentine’s Day. From the holiday’s questionable premise to its common festivities, I feel that Valentine’s Day results in nothing but disappointment for most because it promotes an idealized version of love that’s ultimately unattainable.
- Valentine’s Day just makes people who don’t meet the “requirements” to celebrate feel bad. When you don’t have anyone with whom to celebrate the holiday, it can cause you to feel left out. Having to sit around and watch the entire world celebrate love can be difficult for those without a romantic partner. On top of that, it can also make you feel unworthy. On this day of February, we often begin to second guess ourselves. We question if we are really worthy of the love that we watch others fawn over. While asking ourselves these questions, we assume the answer is no. We believe that we’ll never find the kind of love that makes everything stop upon locking eyes with your person.
- Valentine’s Day can also be a trigger. For many, when it comes to love and the day that celebrates it, we are in denial. We allow our brains to convince our hearts that we don’t care when in reality something as simple as hearing about all these wonderful relationships can feel triggering. This is simply because we are not able to feel the love that the people around us are experiencing.
- Valentine’s Day can make people give up on love. When talking about Valentine’s Day, we must remember the many hopeless romantics who are not able to celebrate, including me. We not only hope to experience the love we see and read about, but we also slowly lean away from the idea of love altogether. Yet, we still have to sit through this day and go through the constant reminder of the romance we are not able to obtain.
- Valentine’s Day can be expensive. There are always these huge expectations of what to get somebody, and when expectations rise, so does the price. Because of the current time and generation, people always desire the newest product or whatever might be trending on social media at the time. While individuals are looking for the next best thing, they do not recognize the holiday’s high cost.
- Valentine’s Day can cause you to feel trapped. When it comes to this day most people use social media to escape the realities of what is occurring around them. But what happens when the thing you use to escape becomes the thing you must escape from? On Valentine’s Day, social media is full of content about the holiday. Therefore, single people must accept their fate or find a new route. On Valentine’s Day, many feel as though they have no place to run from the constant reminders of the holiday.
As we begin to think about the special holiday and all the ways it can affect someone, I encourage you to remember we are more than how Valentine’s Day makes us feel.
