The psychological effects of Valentine's Day

RK -

Today is Valentine's Day, 2019. People in relationships associate the date with things like hearts and roses and dinners and gifts and kissing and other romantic activities. People not in relationships curse the day Valentine's Day was born - or at least that's how the media seems to put it, I'm sure there are single people who celebrate Valentine's Day as an event that celebrates friendship. And surely there are single and spoken for people who don't have any opinion about the day at all.

Two things are sure, though:

  1. Valentine's Day is an artificial metaconstruction that can, by no means, force you to celebrate it, or buy flowers, or eat chocolate out of a heart shaped red box. You are allowed to spend the day however you like - working, hobbying, making love to your sweetheart, walking in the forest, eating cake, whatever - but you are also allowed to do the whole Valentine's ritual with the roses and dinners and hearts and chocolates. You can treat the day as a special event with your partner while realizing that it's not as much of a special date to your relationship as your anniversary, for example. You can do the Valentine's however you like, or ignore it completely and treat today as a regular Thursday. It's completely up to you.

  2. Scheduled in the middle of February, Valentine's Day is a mini-holiday between New Year's and Easter - a perfect way to do something a little special as a boost for your hedonistic brain that's been waiting for a small break ever since January 1st! Let's face it: from New Year's to Easter is a freaking long time to live your life in the ordinary way without celebrations. So if you like holidays in general (and especially if you have problems dealing with winter), you probably welcome Valentine's Day as something to look forward to. It'll raise your spirits just enough to get you through to Easter.

Whatever you think about today and however you're spending it, have an awesome day!

RK

(Me? I don't have a problem with winter, I would look forward to Easter anyways, and I do think anniversaries are more important dates for a relationship than February 14th... but yeah, sure, it's a date night. (No hearts or chocolates, though.))