(PCM) Forget all the hearts and flowers stuff. Valentine’s Day is yesterday’s news. Today is Singles Awareness Day!
Singles Awareness Day (February 15th) was initially created in response to the famous saintly holiday celebrated the day before. As with most modern holidays, many people see Valentine’s Day as a marketing showcase of saccharine-sweet romantic notions to benefit jewelry stores, card companies, and candy-makers.
Sure, this flowery consumerism can be a fun excuse to spoil a certain someone if you’ve got one. But the implicit message in Valentine’s Day, that “together is better”, can be another arrow through the heart for people who are alone but don’t want to be. It can also be an affront to those for whom “party of one” is a conscious choice.
According to national statistics, the single lifestyle is becoming the norm increasingly; there are more divorced or never-have-been-married adults in the United States than people currently in wedlock. Millennials are getting married later than previous generations, if at all; many are saying “no thanks” to “I do” and even “let’s not” to “let’s move in.”
The number of eligible adults who are single (not in a “committed” relationship) is harder to track, census-wise (“committed” according to whose definition, for example?). Still, the culture of marriage and pairing is changing. This is why Singles Awareness Day, once a joke holiday (“S.A.D.”) is more relevant than ever.
So if you’re single this Valentine’s day, whether by happenstance or preference, take heart – you’re far from alone! Millions of singles are embracing February 15th as a day to revel in the wonders of one.
Common singles-themed celebrations include singles-only parties, spa days, shopping sprees or other expressions of self-indulgence. Singles Awareness Day can also be fun to shower single friends with gifts or gestures of solidarity– how does a Girls Night Out sound? Many venues will offer special singles’ programs or discounts to help you make this day even more special.
Like “V-Day”, Singles’ Day can invite you to embrace your creative, adventurous, and sensuous sides – only today, the focus is all on you.