12 Reasons Why Valentine's Day Isn't So Bad

People love to hate on Valentine's Day. But, as much as it's an easy target for bashing, Valentine's Day is the best holiday ever, actually. Ugh, I know. That sentence was hard for me to type, because it's always been a day I've enjoyed boycotting or passionately abhorring... but if I'm being honest with myself, it's absolutely true. Let's take Valentine's Day for what it is at its base, without all the weird, commercialized pressure to get a date on this one day — it's a 24-hour period that celebrates love. Just love. Couldn't we all use a little more of that?

Most aspects of adult life are hard, stressful, unrewarding, and insanely messy. Without some form of love in our lives, nothing else is worth enduring. You don't need romantic love to celebrate Valentine's Day. You don't even need blood-relative love to celebrate Valentine's Day. Or even friend love, really. If the only person you love in this world is yourself, then you're not only set for Valentine's Day, you're also set for life — because that's the hardest love to achieve. (And please be my life coach and teach me everything you know.) Here is why Valentine's Day deserves a little less hate and a little more love.

1. We need more reasons to celebrate love

When gay marriage became legal across the U.S. last June, love was felt in every nook and cranny of every open-minded state in the country. That was a truly monumental day that celebrated love in its simplest and most beautiful form — between two people who choose to spend their lives together.

We need more. Lately, the love in the air has been lacking. So if 364 days are littered with hateful words and intentions, shouldn't we embrace the one day that combats that?

2. Finding the right person is a major accomplishment

Dating is hard — especially modern dating. There are now hundreds of platforms on which people face rejection and are reminded of their feelings of loneliness. So when two people are lucky enough to have their personal interests and their physical chemistry align, that's a big deal. It doesn't make you any better or worse than your single friends, it just gives you a full day to shower your significant other with smooches and candy.

3. Everyone should be showered with chocolates

If you REALLY want to be an awesome Valentine, you'd give your love chocolate once a week, all year long. But hey, gotta start somewhere, right? Everyone loves chocolate. Everyone deserves chocolate. Get your Valentine some chocolate.

4. You can spend it with anyone you love, not just a significant other

Having a Valentine's Day "date" can mean anything from hanging with your bestie, snuggling with your child or dog, or having a romantic dinner with your hot sex-friend. Just spend the day with someone you care about, and you've got a date for V-Day.

5. It's a great reason to have sex

If you're seeing someone you can have sexytimes with on Valentine's Day, then get it, girl! If you're single and decide to take care of your own needs on Valentine's Day, then get it, girl! You deserve an orgasm on Valentine's Day, so just make sure you get one.

6. It reminds you to say "I love you," because you probably aren't saying it enough

None of us are saying, "I love you" as much as we should. So call your parents, call your long-distance BFFs, and when your favorite person shows up at your door on Valentine's Day, jump on them and yell it in their ear.

7. It's fun giving gifts

Any gift-giving holiday is worth celebrating, because doing something nice for someone else just feels good.

8. Love is literally in the air

You can feel it, with the crowds of cuddly couples and the pink and red hearts spewed all over the place. Being surrounded by love makes you more inclined to embrace the emotional gooey-ness around you.

9. It makes you reevaluate what you want in a partner

Maybe you're single right now and have to see all the happy couples around you. Maybe you're in a relationship that isn't great, and this holiday will make you remember what it is you're looking for. Maybe you're perfectly happy just as you are — with or without an SO — and this holiday will remind you to celebrate all the good things you've been blessed with.

10. It reminds you to make date nights a priority

It's so easy let your busy work-life take over and push everything else aside, including your health, your hobbies, and your romantic life. Couples, even those without kids, need to make date night a priority, and Valentine's Day is the kind of mandatory date night that makes couples remember that getting dressed up and eating a nice meal together is fun, and so so necessary.

11. The person you've chosen to love deserves to be spoiled

You're a magnificent human being. I mean, I'm assuming you are. And if I'm right about that, then the person you've chosen to date must be pretty rad, too. So spoil your Valentine, because clearly they deserve the best.

12. Because when it comes down to it, the holiday is just a another day

No matter how you feel about V-Day, it's not a mandatory holiday. You can ignore all of it, and life will return to normal on the 15th. Your relationship status does not define you, and you can celebrate this day however you want to. Hopefully though, you're with someone you love, no matter who that is. And hopefully they're giving you chocolates.

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