Turn up for "Pal"-entine's Day

Not that much is known about St. Valentine — whose big day is Sunday — except that he was a big supporter of love and maybe, possibly, helped people get married way back in the Middle Ages.

Regardless, we’re pretty sure when St. Valentine set out on his mission to spread love, he wasn’t on a quest to make sure every single person in the U.S. spiraled into a deep, dark hole of love-less misery once a year in the middle of February.

Valentine’s Day is notorious for causing tiffs in relationships, making young singles paranoid and even putting our favorite fictional characters in awkward situations. It seems no matter where you are in life, Valentine’s Day can be pretty tricky.

If you’re in a relationship, by all means, go out to dinner, buy your significant other flowers and some chocolate or maybe that nice sweater they’ve been eyeing (hint, hint).

But if you’re not in a relationship, remember there are a lot of other people in your life to help you celebrate Valentine’s Day. Your friends and family members love you, isn’t that awesome?

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This Valentine’s Day, whether you’re dating or not, take some time to celebrate all of the people you’ve met and relationships you’ve built during your time in college. Maybe those friendships aren’t romantic, but who’s to say a platonic relationship can’t be just as loving?

Often times, it’s easy for us, as college students, to get so caught up in what everyone else is doing. Sometimes the pressure to keep up with the crowd leads us to The Red Lion on a Wednesday night when we should be doing homework; other times it just makes us feel kind of lame.

If you’re feeling down because you don’t have a significant other to celebrate Valentine’s Day with this year and seemingly all of your friends do, take a step back. Chances are you’re a young twenty-something who still has plenty of time to find love and experience plenty of romantic relationships.

In the meantime, cherish the friendships you have with people who love you. Tell your friends how much you appreciate all the times they didn’t complain while you sang “Bennie and the Jets” off key and joined in instead; call your sisters to let them know they’re your go-to girls, even if you’re still feuding about who’s mom’s favorite.

There are a lot of places we can find love in our lives, so don’t worry if Sunday is going to be spent watching Netflix and binge eating with your roommates — they love you.