This past Sunday, February 14, a behavioral change found its way to your friends, roommates, and neighbors. You walked through the corridors of your dormitory or house, only to see couples snuggling on futons at every room you passed. Chocolate-laden cardboard boxes, elaborately dressed in ribbons and flowers were exchanged among couples. Candy, ribbons, flowers, music, hugging, kissing. It sounds like a party, a party you weren’t necessarily invited to.
St. Valentine’s Day was established in the year 496 by Pope Gelasius I in replacement of a previous pagan festival that was held from February 13-15. Originally, the holiday was purposed to commemorate St. Valentine, a Christian martyr, and not to commemorate our relationship with a special someone. It wasn’t until the 14th century that Valentine’s Day was connotated as a day for the celebration of love.
The elimination of the Michigan Promise Scholarship left a four thousand dollar hole in my wallet and according to the consumer research company Brand Keys, the average spending per person on Valentine’s Day was $103. I’m admittedly grateful that I didn’t have to spend that kind of money on an expensive date.
In commemoration of the Valentine’s Day of old, and for the sake of my savings account, I did not fall victim to the contemporary and commercialized notion of Valentine’s Day. Instead, I sat patiently in my dorm room eating Jimmy Johns and watching reruns of The Office, realizing that the money I spent on that delicious sandwich might have been spent on chocolate—for someone else!
(In fact, I’m starting to think that this antisocial behavior is the main reason why I wasn’t enduring that cheesy Taylor Swift Valentine’s Day movie for some cool girl on Sunday.)
But alas! There is hope. Devised from my expertise as a single male, I’ve concocted a brief list of activities to curb pink-and-red-induced loneliness.
1. Socialize
Valentine’s Day landed on a Sunday this year, ensuring an extended Valentine’s Weekend prior to the actual holiday. There were no shortages of social gatherings made in excuse to celebrate this potentially lonely holiday. It’s a great idea to capitalize on these social events. You never know, you might have met a cool girl or guy to hang out with on Valentine’s Day.
2. Anti-socialize
There’s nothing like a well-fought game of Madden and high-fives to take the mind off troubles. If you’re single and have no ambition of meeting new people, call up your single friends and hang out.
3. Create a Valentine’s card
If you’re feeling ambitious, I’d suggest finding a pair of scissors and red construction paper to manufacture a Valentine. As cheesy as it seems, who wouldn’t enjoy receiving a card made just for them? And this way, you don’t have to make any face-to-face contact!
4. Ask someone out on a date
If there’s that person you’ve been talking to and hanging out with, and Valentine’s Day approaches, it may be a good idea to ask them out on a date.
For those of us who spent Valentine’s alone, we have to realize that it was just another weekend. And we could have either spent it alone in the dark, or have made the most of it.
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