While many people view Valentine’s Day as a nice, relaxing holiday to be spent with a loved one, it is also a holiday that carries a very high potential for stress with it. In general, Valentine’s Day is quite simple: you write a card for someone you love, and perhaps you swing by Marks & Spencer for a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates.Then you have a nice date where you show how much you care about your significant other by giving gifts and spending some intimate time together. But what if you don’t have anyone specific to spend this holiday with? Unfortunately, particularly for young people who are less experienced with this love-based holiday, the concept of having nobody to spend Valentine’s Day with can lead to a great deal of stress and psychological doubts.

It is not hard to see that Valentine’s Day is a very commercialized holiday. In early February, stores burst out in red and pink, showing off displays of everything from chocolate candies to teddy bears with hearts sewn in their chests. Commercials on television show us that we are supposed to surprise our loved ones with gifts of jewellery and flowers; and we can’t escape slogans like “will you be my Valentine?” labelling all sorts of things in stores and on TV.

The excessive exposure of the holiday build-up is of course a means to get people to buy a variety of products leading up to their special day. However, it also puts a great deal of pressure on people simply to have something to do on Valentine’s Day. If you don’t have anybody particular to spend the holiday with, and everyone around you is busy buying into the commercial aspects – buying gifts, setting up dates, etc. – it can be quite easy to start to feel lonely, as well as pressured to find someone to spend Valentine’s Day.

Particularly for young adults and teenagers, it is very easy to feel alone, unwanted, or depressed. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for the stresses and pressures of Valentine’s Day to emphasize these sorts of feelings on people. This is why it is important to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but not blow it out of proportion. If you are spending the holiday alone, take pride in your independence and know that next year you may be spending it with somebody. There is ultimately nothing different about being alone on Valentine’s Day than on any other day, and it is important to treat it this way.