Valentine's Day can be hard if you're single - reminders of your lack of a love life seem to follow you wherever you go - but what makes it 10x worse is having recently been through a break up.
The supermarket is suddenly someplace you dread going - as if constantly thinking about your break up wasn't enough already, seeing all of the velvet chocolate boxes and flowers reminds you of your extremely inopportune timing and can push you to tears. To combat this, I've compiled some ways to spend Valentine's Day that just might help ease the pain of your recent breakup.
1. Buy yourself whatever you were hoping to get as a gift
That box of chocolates you've been eyeing for weeks is still within your reach! Take the opportunity to treat yourself to whatever luxurious goodies you were expecting bae to surprise you with. It can even still be a surprise! Order something like a Valentine's flower arrangement, your favorite pizza, maybe something that's been sitting in your Amazon cart forever, and have it delivered to yourself. Ignore the notification that tells you when it will arrive and voila! a Valentine's day surprise.
2. Plan a night with friends
Unless literally everyone you know has a s/o, a night out with friends is the perfect excuse to still have fun on Valentine's Day. Use it as an opportunity to reconnect with old friends or finally get to see that one person you've been playing phone tag with. Valentine's Day isn't just about romantic love, it's also about platonic love, so celebrating friendship is just as important as celebrating romance. Galentine's Day is a thing for a reason.
3. Have a spa day
Give yourself the gift of peace and relaxation. Completely decompress and cleanse your body (and mind) of everything you've been through lately. You deserve to take a break to feel rejuvenated.
4. Watch sappy romance movies
This may seem counterproductive, but for someone who has recently experienced a breakup, this can be therapeutic. Sometimes, the only way to solve a problem is to push right through it, and since emotional distress is something we typically don't like to encounter, it can be difficult to dig up all of those very fresh and very unpleasant emotions in order to address them properly. However, forcing yourself to come face to face with your emotions and process them appropriately (i.e. crying a lot) can help relieve some of that emotional strain and allow you to work towards healing just that much faster.
5. Spoil your pet
They deserve to feel loved and appreciated too! Maybe take the extra time to cuddle with your cat, or feed your dog the leftover chicken you're not going to eat. Giving your pet just even a little more attention that usual can make you feel good and it celebrates their unconditional love for you.
6. Visit your parents
It sounds very lame if you tell someone "I'm hanging out with my mom on Valentine's day", but it's actually a great way to show them how much you care. If you have good parents, they love you unconditionally, and since Valentine's Day is about love, it's the perfect opportunity to tell them how much you appreciate them. It's also good for you to feel loved and appreciated by them in return, as it helps you forget how lonely you might feel.
7. Work
For some people, work is a safe place where their personal and professional lives do not mix, so it can be an emotional sanctuary for them. Putting in those extra hours can not only distract you from your break up, but you'll be making money too! Just a different, more roundabout way to treat yourself, if that works for you.
There really is no wrong way to spend Valentine's Day, so however, you want to go about it is totally up to you. The goal is to be okay with being single on the (alleged) most romantic day of the year. And if nothing else you do helps you forget about your lack of a bae, just remember that Valentine's Day is just one day, and there will be plenty of other romantic days in your future that will most likely have nothing to do with Valentine's Day anyway.
