How To Handle Valentine’s Day Being Single

By: Dr. Nathan W. Crews



Nathan Crews has an Honorable Doctorate from Harvard in Love & Relational Relations. He has taught at such prestigious universities as Harvard, M.I.T., Princeton, Yale, Oxford, and Hamburger University. Greenville College has the pleasure of having him teach a few classes this semester before returning to his European book tour. He has written such books as Love: Why Do We Spell It That Way?, Relationships Shmayshinships, and How To Watch ‘Sleepless In Seattle’ And Not Cry. His most proud accomplishment was being the Relationship Counselor to the Chicago Bulls from 1990 to 1999. Six-peat baby!



Two things are always guaranteed on February 14th: couples will be walking hand-in-hand, head on shoulder, and acting lovey-dovey and single people will be saving a lot of money. Even though one may be saving a lot of money by staying in, it doesn’t mean that feelings of loneliness, depression, and self-loathing are easy to overcome. However, I have compiled a few helpful tips for how to handle Valentine’s Day while being single and still feel good about yourself. I do realize, though, that because this is Greenville College, I’m writing to a total of about 15 people who go here and aren’t dating or engaged.



1) Since you won’t have any plans V-Day night, you might decide to watch a movie. That’s well and fine but I must warn you don’t watch any movies like The Notebook, Jerry McGuire, or Shrek. Instead watch a movie like Titanic where it ends with a tragic accident where the loved one dies. It will leave you thinking “Wow, that could have happened to me tonight. Good thing I stayed home!” No doubt your confidence will be boosted tenfold.



2) Unless it’s an emergency situation, don’t for any reason go to visit your parents. Sometime during the evening you’ll find yourself sitting on the couch with your PJ’s on, in between your mom and dad watching the 10 o’clock news. This may cause you to take a long, hard look at your life up to this point and it may be something that you’re not ready to handle. It could also result in lots of crying and you may find yourself in bed before most couples have left the Texas Roadhouse parking lot.



3) It’s almost guaranteed that across campus couples everywhere will be holding hands. This may be hard to handle when walking from class to class. So a simple answer would be don’t leave your room. This may involve skipping some classes but trust me, it will be worth it. I will say it again, don’t leave your room. For nothing.



4) Ask someone out on a date. When they say yes, reject them. This is another piece of advice that will boost your confidence and will allow you to be able to say, “Well I could have gone out with Shirley tonight but I had a much finer time by myself.”



5) Make plans to go to the Olympics, see The Beatles in concert, or have dinner with Abraham Lincoln. That way, when people ask you what you are doing on Valentine’s Day, you’ll appear to be busy. However, when evening rolls around you’ll realize that you actually won’t be able to do any of these things and it will allow you to have a nice quiet evening at home.



Well, these are some surefire ways to help overcome the difficulty that Valentine’s Day brings to single people. Follow these easy suggestions and you’ll be certain to have a wonderful V-Day by yourself.



Do you have any questions about love or relationships? Write Dr. Crews at 200806058 @panthers.greenville.edu and he will pick some lucky few to respond to and that will be featured in The Papyrus. Please do so! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!