For many people, both single or committed, Valentine’s Day can be one of the most  stressful days of the year. Either you don’t know the perfect present to give to your “perfect person” or you have no one to buy a present for. The day stinks either way, but did you ever think about the nonemotional side? The day is completely designed around people going out and spending money on their partners. Dinner costs money. Presents cost money. Decorations cost money. The stores and restaurants don’t care if you are happy, they are just selling you the products that they have you convinced you need. On the more personal level….does the person you are in a relationship really want to make you feel special or are they just living up to the expectations set for Valentine’s Day?

Going out to dinner sounds nice right? Your significant other picking you up with flowers and taking you out. Well that’s just the cover story. On Valentine’s Day restaurants raise their prices and flower shops put out all the flowers that are almost dead already for the people who are busy and don’t care about the product they are buying. Once you have your flowers and deliver them they become a distant thought because dinner comes into the picture. Who is going to pay the ridiculous prices? Who had to make the reservation weeks in advance? All the pressure on one person or the other with no pay off because at the end of the day it’s just a memory and a big empty wallet in your pocket.

Valentine’s Day is all about couples. What happens to the lonely singles staying at home? They get left feeling bad about themselves and like no one cares. Valentines Day results in all your friends being mad at you for going out, or all your friends mad at  you for being the outcast at home when they had invited you to third wheel on their date.(Who wants that anyways?) Whether you are out on a date or home alone there is no guarantee that anyone actually cares. You think by being asked on a date that they really like you but it may just be their way to not look like an idiot with their friends. Or on the other hand the people left home alone may have someone just wishing they had the guts to ask them out but feeling to self conscious to actually do it.

Valentine’s Day in the end has no real purpose other than singling out the people who are without dates and making money for all the businesses and restaurants around town.

Picture from urbantastebud.com