It is that time of year again. 

Another February has rolled around and stores are adorned with red and pink, roses by the dozen and heart-shaped boxes of subpar chocolate candies. The pressure is on to find the perfect gift for your significant other and plan a night to remember. 

That is, unless you are single. In which case Valentine’s Day can feel as though it exists just to make you miserable. 

The fluffy stuffed bears stare you down as you enter any store and every candy heart reads as though it is mocking you. 

If we are single, romantic comedies tell us we should be on the couch, crying and digging into some pint of ice cream.

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But being single on Valentine’s Day is not as devastating as it is frequently presented. The holiday is often focused on grandiose romantic displays of love, when instead it can be a day to celebrate all the unique shapes love can take.

Love exists in small gestures more often than anything we see in the movies. Phone calls to our parents, hugging our friends tight or sleeping in a little later on the weekends are all meaningful forms of love.

And they do not cost a dime. 

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As children, we celebrate Valentine’s Day without a care of romanticism. In elementary school, two things mattered most to me: having the best decorated Valentine’s Day box and addressing the inferior cards to my least favorite classmates. 

Of course, when we grow up, we desire more than Fun Dips and valentines with our favorite cartoon characters on them. But we have always been taught to acknowledge love at all ages, no matter our relationship status. 

Nothing is stopping us from doing that now as college students. 

This Valentine’s Day, reach out to your loved ones. Host a themed dinner, throw a Galentine’s Day party, go to Richard A. Beard Parking Garage and watch the sunset. Stock up on Saturday’s candy sales.

Be grateful you do not have to be the one sorting through hundreds of corny cards to find the most palatable one, or stand in line for hours at the same fancy restaurant everybody else also picked for dinner. 

Remember we are nothing without our friends and families at our sides to support us. Being single does not mean you are alone.