Valentine’s Day: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

When most people think of Valentine’s day, they think of a sweet valentine, boxes of chocolates with stuffed animals, Hallmark cards and gift baskets, maybe even a bouquet of roses…but what happens when you don’t get any of those things? Or if your sweetheart doesn’t turn out to be so much of a sweetheart?

While the holiday seems warm and loving, there’s a lot of pressure to participate in the holiday and it’s seen almost as a negative if you don’t have someone to shower you with gifts on February 14. Maybe the saint’s holiday does more harm than good.

“All that pressure on relationships during Valentine’s Day can actually harm relationships, even leading to breakups. A study tracking Facebook breakup statuses found that couples tend to break up more often after Valentine’s Day,” Insider says. If you’re expecting a gift and end up going home empty handed, it could take a toll both on your feelings and the relationship you’re in.

“The thought of not getting gifts that are expensive or meaningful enough overpower the true essence of a relationship,” Mill Valley News says.

The influence of social media on the expectations you have for gifts can be damaging. “As pictures of happy couples flood your social media page on Valentine’s Day, it can be easy to question your own relationship. You might start to wonder how your relationship compares to these seemingly picture-perfect ones. This mentality, however, can be both destructive and misleading,” Insider says. “[…] it’s all too easy to idealize what you see on social media and end up feeling down about your own relationship.”

For those who have been single, or are newly single, the holiday can just be downright depressing, especially if you don’t even get a gift from your friends. It can make you feel lonely, unwanted, unimportant, and many other negative emotions. “Valentine’s Day can also be very hard for many singles. It is a constant reminder that you are alone and unattached and can make many depressed,” Mill Valley News says.

“Especially when movies that surround themes of love, play all day long. There is no sense in making singles feel bad by broadcasting how in love people are in relationships,” Mill Valley News says.

Valentine’s Day is also a holiday designed to be big money for companies. The idea that if you don’t buy your significant other anything on the day, then you don’t love them, seems to sell pretty well.
“The retail industries that stand to see big sales boost during the holiday are jewelry at $3.9 billion, […] flowers at $1.9 billion, candy at $1.8 billion, gift cards at $1.3 billion and greeting cards at $933 million,” Fox Business says.

The chocolate industry might be the industry that makes the most of the sappy holiday, with 24% of their 22.2 billion dollar market being sales from Valentines Day.

While the holiday does have its fair share of negatives, it can be a good time for you to show your appreciation for your friends or those who you’re close with, partners or not.

During the Valentine’s Day season, it’s easy to find gifts and candy to share with one another. If candy isn’t their thing, there’s a million Hallmark cards you can dig through to find the perfect one for them.

Valentine’s Day might be one for the couples, but at least there’s chocolate.