It's February. The month of love.
Also the month of listening to everyone gripe about Valentine's Day.
Along with that, it's the month of listening to a bunch of single girls planning a chocolate-filled Galentine's Day.
What is Galentine's Day? It's when you celebrate all your girlfriends, and it's conveniently right around the time of Valentine's Day.
But wait a second, are you telling me there's a designated day where I'm supposed to hang out with my friends and celebrate them? I feel like I could do that almost every day; in fact, I pretty much do.
We made up Galentine's Day just like we made up the social constructs that surround Valentine's Day. We look at Valentine's Day for big romantic gestures and telling our significant others that we love them. But this is also something that could happen every day. So why did take a day celebrating a Christian martyr and turn it into the biggest Hallmark Holiday of the year?
Galentine's Day started with a "Parks and Recreation" episode and is about ladies celebrating ladies. But like Valentine's Day, we've twisted it. The day has turned into women hanging out, not because they want to celebrate their friendship, but because the social pressures of Valentine's Day have made them feel bad about not having a significant other to be with. Hanging out with friends just sounds like a better alternative than spending the holiday alone. I love the concept of women celebrating women, but the timing of the holiday makes it a little sadder.
We shouldn't have to wait for these types of holidays to celebrate the ones we love. Even if we do, we shouldn't have to categorize different loves for different people into different days. I use Valentine's Day to tell basically anyone I care about that I love them. But I also do this practically every other day.
Bake your friends cookies for no reason. Tell them you love them everyday. You don't need a holiday to celebrate the people in your life. You just need the people.