Valentine’s Day, or as some like to call it, Singles Awareness Day, is met with a variety of attitudes every year, with 2019 being no exception.

Whether it is happiness from spending time with a significant other, confidence from being proudly single, longing from not having a special someone or sadness from being dumped a few days previously, there are likely to be high emotions running around on this holiday.

No matter your attitude, in general there seems to be a widespread notion that the best thing to be on Valentine’s Day is in a relationship.

To the single person looking for love, this idea may be difficult. It can seem like everything on social media at this time of the year is about couples expressing their mushy gushy love over each other. Advertisements seem fully geared toward the idea that you need a boyfriend or girlfriend to be happy, and TV shows depict happy relationships that always work out in the end.

Well, relationships are not all mushy gushy love, happiness and happy endings. Couples are not going to post the photos of them fighting or the tears shed after their breakups.

Of course, not all couples break up in the end, but regardless, in any relationship there will be fighting, there will be pressure, there will be boredom and there will be regrets.

Besides, there are so many perks to the single life. You don’t have to work around someone else’s life, you can freely hang around with people of the opposite sex (or people in general), you don’t have to worry about impressing anyone’s family or about being cheated on. Think of how much money you are saving by not having to buy a significant other anything for Valentine’s Day (or any day). Think about how much candy you can buy at a 50 percent discount.

If you are single, it might seem like everyone else is in a relationship and has a better life than you, but that is far from true.

Often, the grass looks greener on the other side. Being single and in a relationship both have their perks, of course, but if it’s not the right time for you to change your relationship status yet, you might as well focus on the positives of the single life and take advantage of them.

Having a boyfriend or girlfriend might seem like the ideal thing around Valentine’s Day, but tomorrow is just another day.

No matter your relationship status, you are still the same worthy, valuable person you have always been.

If you are looking for someone to love, love your friends, your family, even random strangers. You don’t need to be in a relationship to love, and you don’t need to be in a relationship to be loved.

You are just as important single as you are in a relationship. Don’t forget that.