Valentine’s Day was never my favorite holiday. Sure, I enjoyed waking up in the morning and finding a boatload of candy on the counter with a cute cat card addressed from my parents. But other than that, I really didn’t take a huge liking to the holiday that had everyone going nuts.

And for a long time, I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because I never spent Valentine’s Day with a boy or because I was not the type to be all gushy and sappy proclaiming my love to the world on one day. But then I realized those weren’t the reasons. The more times I had February 14s, the more I came to the realization: every day should feel like Valentine’s Day.

No, not the essay-length social media posts telling everyone and anyone why you love your significant other and how you met. That’s super duper cute and all, but that’s not what I mean to do every day. Please don’t do that everyday.

What I mean is this:

The whole idea of love is strange. No one understands the definition of love. Many have tried to define it, but everyone takes in that one word with their own meaning. That’s the beauty of it. We all love in our own special ways. However, many of us wait until one day, one strange holiday, to tell our parents we’re thankful and love them—to text our friends how much we appreciate them. We wait until one day in the middle of February to be sappy and tell people how much they mean to us. Which makes sense: the holiday is a huge representation of love. I mean, love on. But what if we spent every day with love like that

Each and every day, we don’t know what tomorrow brings. I don’t know the day my days will end on this beautiful earth, and you don’t either. So what I’m thinking is this: what if you made every week or even every day feel like Valentine’s Day.

Every person who roams this lovely place we call planet Earth deserves to know they are loved. And I’m not talking go all Cupid and hit 'em with a bow-and-arrow kind of love. Many people will spend their whole lives not knowing they mean so much to someone. It’s your job to tell em what’s up. People deserve to know they are appreciated and loved with all you have. They may not be the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with, but they still mean something to you. And that’s pretty darn special if you ask me.

On the worst of days, spend two minutes and text someone thank you. Tell them you love them and that you appreciate them for being such an extraordinary person in your life. Trust me, it’ll cheer you up and bring you back into that positive perspective. Just picture how the person you texted will feel. They’ll feel on top of the world.

Every person has a purpose in this world. To many of us, we spend half our time wondering if people understand how much they mean to us. Stop wondering and start doing. The world needs more love at a time like this.

Every day should feel like GALentine’s Day. At this moment or in the near future, there will be a time when you are holding something back. You want to talk to someone and you don’t know how.

A famous movie quote once has stuck with me forever and it goes like this. “Sometimes, all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, and I promise you something great will come of it.”

Tell people about the good you see in them, even if it’s on the most random of days.

I kind of see it like this: If this was my last day on earth, would I be content with whatever the last thing I said to someone being my goodbye? You never know what tomorrow brings, and it’s time people hear the reality of it all. You love them. They should know it. The people around you are worth talking kindly about.

So, stop staying silent. Disrupt the silence. Choose love.

All the love.