Happy GALentines Day

This morning I woke up painfully aware of one, simple fact: I am single.

Dr. Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

That probably came off as the most depressing blog post intro that I have ever written.

Believe me when I say this: I am incredibly happy with my current single-status and the life that I am living.  The popular culture narrative around being single is founded on ideas of loneliness and loss, and it irks me that people are under the assumption that a single life is an empty life.  I feel that I lead a happy and full life, and I am the best version of myself I can be.

From an early age I never really bought into the Valentines Day hysteria.  I guess that stems from the fact that I don’t entirely understand how a random day came to be successfully commercialised for no reason.  If you buy into the holiday, you are basically saying to your significant other that you are only buying them gifts or taking them out for a meal because a certain day of the year dictates you do so.  Nothing says “I Love You” like a mass-produced sentiment that was written by someone else.

I am also completely bemused by the ‘Cupid’ character.  Who thought it was a good idea to celebrate a holiday represented by a man-baby in a diaper who flies around shooting people with a bow and arrow?  I’m not going to lie – if Cupid was buzzing around my neighbourhood, I would be calling 1-1-1 faster than he could say “registered offender”.

Why is TODAY the only day of the year that warrants celebrating love?  I think that we should be spending all 364 other days of the year expressing love and self-love in as many ways as possible.  Yes, there are always going to be quantum gaps between the life we are living and the life we are told we should be living.  However what we sometimes fail to see is that, in these gaps, there are many different kinds of love waiting to be embraced.  Maybe it doesn’t look like that love that mass-produced Valentines Day cards are espousing about, but it is love nonetheless.

So this Valentines Day, I’m changing the “V” to a “G” and celebrating the love that I receive on a daily basis from all my beautiful friends and family. We are all fortunate to be able to choose our own friends, and I am blessed to have the loveliest bunch.  Thank you all for being so wonderful to me!  I’m all about the sunshine, not the rain, and you guys make it easier to be so!  No, I won’t be sending you a $4.99 card saying so – instead I’ll be saying it, straight from the heart, just as I do every other day.

Much love!

Lizzie x