Single On Valentines Day? 6 Reasons Not To Have a Heart Attack

I ran across these tips from a Dr. Laura S. Brown -- a professor in Seattle. These are several ways that single men and women can enjoy Valentine’s Day without worrying about the pressures that often come with the holiday:

1. Do not define yourself by your relationship status. Your relationship status is not your identity.

2. If you are single because of a recent loss, allow this to be a day of grieving. Do not pretend that it’s not a hard day. Get support and sympathy.

3. Realize that Valentine’s Day is a commercial holiday. It is not about love and relationships; it is about selling flowers, candy, and diamond jewelry. Think of all the money you are saving.

4. Get together with people who do love you -- friends, family members, the people who already have relationships with you.

5. If you are single and you don’t want to be, start now to think about what is in the way of you creating the relationship you want. Find ways to work on becoming the person your dream partner would fall in love with. Start therapy. Take up yoga. Begin to volunteer. Create art. Make meaning. Act to change the world. It is into the fullest lives that love is most likely to fall.

6. If you are single and you like it, now is the time to affirm your choice. People who never marry or partner have close, loving, emotionally-intimate relationships and lives worth living. Do not let a couple-driven culture define your choice as something wrong.