• Get out of dodge.

  Going out of town can be especially helpful to people who are going through recent break ups or whose partners are out of town. It helps to be away from old haunts and to step into a new place that doesn’t remind you of anything. If you can’t afford a hotel room, consider camping. Or, you can choose somewhere close by and make it a day trip.

• Find an adventure.

  Is there something you’ve always wanted to do but just haven’t ever gotten around to it? Have you always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon or another National or State Park? Is there a road trip you’ve never taken? Is there a hobby or sport you’ve wanted to take up like rock climbing or fishing? Go do it! There’s no reason to wait around for a partner or buddy to do things with you. While I don’t recommend rock climbing alone, you can always go to a climbing gym and try it out with the accompaniment of plenty of mats, first aid kits, and people around to make sure you’re okay. I personally have never shot a gun before, so on my bucket list is a gun range. I know it sounds like a weird thing to do on Valentine’s Day, but hey, why not do something you’ll never forget? You can’t say you didn’t have an awesome Valentine’s Day if you’ve just come back from an awesome adventure. Plus doing stuff like that alone gives you badass cred around the office, if that’s something you’re looking for.

• Get a bunch of friends together and have an Anti-Valentine’s day extravaganza.

  You can go all out by customizing Valentine’s Day decorations. My favorite is to tear the hearts into pieces before hanging them on the wall and draw naughty things on cutouts of Cupid. Make a punch, watch horror movies instead of rom-coms, eat a lot of candy, and if anyone wears red or pink, they are put on party clean up duty.

The bottom line is, if you can’t be with the person or people you want to be with on special days, that doesn’t mean the day still can’t be special. Life is what you make it. So do something awesome for yourself. Go out, stay in, do whatever you think is fun, and allow me to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day, and happy every other day of the year too!