I’m single.
So I realised there are a few different approaches I could take on Valentine’s Day. (The day of love that is synonymous with couples – even though love doesn’t necessarily mean couples).
1. Ignore it. Either by saying nothing or saying something super irrelevant. (I’d like to point out, it’s pretty hard to ignore this ‘holiday’ / date because it’s EVERYWHERE!)
2. Resist it. For example; rolling my eyes and sighing at all of the overpriced tat on offer at the super market, because nothing says ‘I love you’ like an array of pink and red gifts with absolutely no relevance to, or use in your everyday life.
3. Accept it – Be the bigger person (which I’ve opted to do). This means I acknowledge that it’s valentines day, I’m single and I’m content. (Eg; they’ll be no Bridget Jones style meltdown where I eat my own body weight in chocolate, spend countless hours questioning why I’m single, internalise everything, mourn past relationships and ‘vow to change (drastically)’ – totally over this).
And I’d like to point out and acknowledge, even as I write, read, re-read and rewrite this, I realise how hard it is to create a piece about being single and content, and sound convincing. This may be partly because men and women clearly treat this day differently, whether they’re single or in a couple. And actually, this may be more to do with the expectations of society and consumerism rather than gender differences. Ie.. Society expects women who are single to be miserable.
I haven’t always been single, and I haven’t always been content with my life, but right now I am. Regardless of the time of year/day. I look back to last year – things have changed so much! This is not my first Valentine’s Day ‘alone’. Although I was in a relationship for the last two, we didn’t spend either of them actually together in the same place and I wasn’t miserable on said day.
The reason that I think this one is kind of different and therefore worthy of a blog is because this is my first (100%) single Valentine’s Day since 2007! Which is kind of a long time! 😳 Like… A really long time. Maybe that’s why I’m not sad today, or gloomy or glum.
I’m going to celebrate all of the things that I love! Including being single, and living a relatively drama-free and uncomplicated life. So on this day of love, I’m going to share some of the things I love.
1. I’ve recently moved out of the proverbial nest… again (boomerang generation over here 🙌) so I love coming home! It’s nice to be in familiar surroundings, and in a city that’s as busy as I want it to be (because I don’t live in Nottingham city, whereas London is pretty much always busy where I am).
2. Because I’m home I get to hang out with my family & Mai! Maisy is awesome (she’s our dog) because she’s an eternal puppy. She loves us all unconditionally – regardless of the time of day or night, and she has the best personality. She’s such a rascal! This one time… I ended up hugging a tree for dear life when Mai had chased her nemesis (the ginger cat) up someone’s garden… Dragging me along with her.
3. My family and I are foodies. There is no way around it. It’s just a fact. My sister baked a trio of amazing bread and butter puddings but with a twist! Mine was pain au chocolat, cut open and stuffed with peanut butter before being baked. Nom! Also, my dad got me supplies to take back to London, including a jar of Nutella. Now that is love!
4. I love going to the cinema. (No… I’m not going to watch 50 Shades…) but I am going to watch Selma. I must admit though, I thought about changing my plans after hearing a colleague in the office say that single men were snapping up tickets for today to pick up single women.. (When did this become a legit pick up method?) Not sure how I feel about this but ‘just no.’ comes to mind.
5. I love reading. And why shouldn’t I do the things in life that I love? This is part of the beauty of being single. You can do what you want, when you want. At the moment I’m reading Wild and I love it. I’d definitely recommend it to anyway who suffers from wanderlust or is feeling lost in life. I also love catching up with my favourite blogs at the weekend. They’re usually travel blogs and they always inspire me!
What are you doing this Valentine’s Day?
DistractedFlick 