Many people will tell you they hate Valentine’s day, but I say embrace it! 

Hating on a holiday dedicated explicitly to love is just childish and cynical. When someone openly bashes Valentine’s Day, picture the boy at a school dance who thinks he is too good for dancing. 

We all know several people who choose to dislike boxes of chocolates, red roses and stuffed animals, but frankly, those people are boring. They’ll tell you “it’s a corporate holiday,” “it’s only for couples to show off” or “Saint Valentine would never approve.” 

However, if you choose to view Valentine’s Day as just another massive holiday fueled by card and chocolate companies then you might as well put on your grinch suit and stop celebrating Christmas too. 

“Marketers in New York saw the personification of Christmas as an opportunity to sell goods and began to associate this early image of Santa Claus with their advertisements in the 1840s,” according to Augusta University. 

The idea that Valentine’s Day is only a holiday that those in a relationship can enjoy is false. 

Valentine’s Day is simply about love, no matter where it comes from. Growing up, my mom always gave my younger sister and I a small gift for Valentine’s Day as a way to celebrate together as a family. 

Additionally, if you just can’t bear to see others happy then you can stay in for the night and stay off social media for one day out of the year. 

For those who bring Saint Valentine into the conversation, many holidays are not even close to what they originated as. 

Halloween started as a pagan holiday to welcome the end of the harvest and ward off ghosts. Now Halloween is a time when children get to have fun in costume and ingest too much sugar. 

Valentine’s day is a reminder to be grateful for those you care about and tell them you love them. You don’t have to go all out for an expensive dinner and it isn’t just about whether you have a significant other. Anyone can celebrate love.