Valentines day: do we really need it?

Valentines day.

I’ve got my issues with it. We’ve seen the annual M&S advert telling us we can get a romantic night in for just £20. We’ve seen the magazines telling us what to do to make our evening extra special. We’ve even seen the little newsagents down the road with a heart-shaped balloon flying outside the doorway.

But, why?

Valentines day is for me, a cheap marketing ploy to make couples spend that little extra when it just isn’t necessary. There is no reason why those in a relationship need to wait until the 14th of February to show they love their other half (or even like them), because this should be something you do every day. Simple.

Valentines day is shoved in our face so much that people begin to believe that they need to participate in the whole shebang and make a go of it when realistically, it’s as normal a day as any other. If you wait until this day to make that all-important romantic gesture then all you’re doing is playing into yet another pointless connection that society has made for us. Saint Valentine and the apparent relationship he had with romantic love is much debated. Was it even real? How are we to really know?!?!?!?! This could all be a huge lie and then you’d really be screwed and left thinking about what other things you’ve been lied to about. This is serious. We may have a huge problem on our hands.

Anyway, I digress.

I understand that Valentines day can be a nice way to introduce something new into a relationship, but really, what kind of a relationship are you in when you must wait for a specific day to express your love for someone? Even worse is that millions of other people will be doing it alongside you too. You can hardly be labelled spontaneous.  There’s more to life than seeing a tantalising advert and buying into an idea that loads of other people will also buy into. In my books, every day with your partner should be a sort of “Valentines day”. This doesn’t mean coming home with a bunch of red roses, wine and chocolates and wining and dining expensively and really splashing out, but it should be all the little things that come with being in love! It feels we’ve lost sight of this and decided that spending more equates to loving more? Odd.

Valentines day is overrated. Go tell someone who cares.