valentine’s day | Wha’ever!

All you need is love, that’s what the Beatles already sung, and before them (and later) thousands of other artists all around the world.

But what if one isn’t blessed with true love (yet)? For some Valentine’s day almost becomes a torture, it seems, and one tries so hard to find the true thing. However it lies in nature of love to sneak up when you least expect it. I can say that from my own experience and as well as from friends’ and mates’.

Valentine’s day however is so commercialised in some countries that one almost feels down and annoyed about not being as lucky to have someone to hug, kiss, take care of and share the good and bad times with. Every shop offering something heart-shaped, restaurants trying to get people to book special candle-light dinners etc. just makes one feel being one of the worst outsiders, more even, one starts thinking it is ones own failure not to have found a soul mate. When I still lived in London and I hadn’t met my true partner in love (and crime) yet my feelings went that way the weeks before the 14th of February. At literally every corner something red… Horrible when you are single but don’t really want to be.

But honestly – how many of us are lucky enough to have the right person beside us? When one looks at online dating sites booming, other advertisements seeking for love, online and offline, and not to forget the good old Friday night chatting up – realistically, the ones of us who really are entirely happy with someone are probably not that many. And these would not necessarily need any Valentine’s offers, since they appreciate each other every day. So it seems these hopeless ads and offers on the 14th are not of much use, are they? Potentially it makes unhappy people even unhappier. And is it really something to strive for to try to make money from people who are unhappy in love or not in love at all? Probably not. But who cares as long as the cash keeps coming in? My personal point of view.

In Sweden all this commercial stuff around the 14th is luckily not as exaggerated as I have seen it in London or in Germany. I really do appreciate that and think that even if I would still be single, in this country it is much easier to look past Valentine’s day and to be happy even during the weeks before this “magical” date.

So – all single ladies & gents, it is just to survive this bloody 14th of Feb, maybe lock yourselves in tonight with a best friend and watch a horror movie (at least not a love movie) while enjoying some really good takeaway pizza and a bottle of red. After that the world will look better, especially with springtime and lighter days approaching. And who knows? Maybe this year you’ll be discovered by the one that is just right for you. In any case, be happy and enjoy yourself and life as much as you can. Remember, there are lots of people around that share their lives with the wrong partner, and that I consider to be even worse than being single. Been there, done that.