Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a big fan of this holiday. I find it over-commercialized and typically disappointing, even for those who are lucky enough to share the day with someone special. For the past couple years, even when I did have a partner, I usually chose to spend February 14th celebrating the alternative holiday: “Galentine’s Day”.
For those who don’t know, Galentine’s Day is essentially the choice to have a girls day or night instead of spending the 14th with a romantic partner. I feel like this alternative celebration can get a bad rap sometimes. People will suggest women celebrating Galentine’s Day are bitter because they don’t have a romantic partner or perhaps they’re upset because their partner is terrible at holiday celebrations. But I tend to find the value of Galentine’s day and the idea behind it is more significant than Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day is supposed to be about celebrating the relationship and love you share with a partner. A day to treat them special and if you celebrate the commercial way, with cards, candy and jewelry. But I’ve always been under the impression, if you only chose to do these things on Valentine’s Day, then your relationship has some other issues that should be considered.
If you truly care about your romantic partner, each day should be a day to celebrate the love and relationship you share. My boyfriend said to me just the other day, “You’re never done dating someone,” and while Valentine’s Day is a good reminder of that for some, it shouldn’t only happen one day each year. The idea behind Valentine’s Day isn’t bad, but it gets exploited.
The other thing to keep in mind about Valentine’s Day is, while some have found the person that they know they will spend the rest of their life celebrating with, many have not. A few more Februarys will come and go and you may be alone or celebrating with a different romantic partner. This is where the principal of Galentine’s Day really comes into play for me.
As the romantic partner who you share Valentine’s Day with may change, your Galentine’s Day partners won’t. Even as you move cities, change jobs and grow as a person, your girls (or guys) will always be by your side.
Your Galentine’s Day partners are the ones who will be there to pick you up and put you back together when your Valentine’s Day partner isn’t around anymore. These friends are the ones who were to see any previous relationships fail and they’ll be there in the future to watch the one that truly matters succeed.
In my opinion, the principal behind Galentine’s Day is just as important as Valentine’s Day, if not more so. Friends are to be celebrated too and definitely more than just once a year. They’ve seen you through your worst, they’ll see you through your best and they won’t ever break your heart. They'll put it back together.
