If you are reading this section of the newspaper, chances are you might be single. If you aren’t, then look away. Those who are single on campus, don’t freak out this coming Valentine’s Day!

According to the National Public Radio there is approximately 7.5 billion people on Earth and counting. The chances of you being the only person without a date on Valentine’s Day is pretty slim.

If you are single, then why should it even matter in the first place? For some reason, many people feel dejected for being alone on Valentine’s Day. If you are the type that annually feels like this, then there might be a reason why.

Every year, the shelves of your nearest pharmacy or neighborhood grocery store is filled with pink and red hearts, greeting cards, chocolates and those teddy bears that look back at you with those beady little eyes.

It serves as a yearly reminder for all those couples out there to shell out cash and to hide the fact that they obviously forgot this holiday was coming up. It also serves as a physical reminder to those of us who are single on campus that yet again you are an individual without a date.

But you know what, live it up a little this year if you are single. If you think about it from a different perspective, you have no one to disappoint this holiday. If you want to go and treat yourself to a movie night, then go ahead. If you’re late by 15 minutes, it doesn’t matter. Who will you be disappointing? No one.

Let’s face it, couples only go all out on Valentine’s Day during the first couple of years of their relationship. It’s called the honeymoon phase.

When a couple hits their third or fourth year of dating, they reach the phase where they are just comfortable with each other. That’s the time when one partner lowers their expectations and one partner gets increasingly disappointed. Sounds familiar to some of us on campus? Then join the singles side. You probably won’t be too disappointed.

If that doesn’t convince anybody to take the pressure off themselves being single on Valentine’s Day, then one must deconstruct what it means to be single.

If a person is single, then does it mean that they are truly alone? To be truly alone means that a person has no one in their life. People seem to forget, in the wake of celebrating Valentine’s Day, the other people in their lives.

The relationship a person may have with their parents, friends, mentor and the animals in their life is a relationship that still takes effort. It is not just romantic relationships that require maintenance and support.

So don’t let the all this pink and red distract you. If you are single take it easy on yourself, and celebrate Valentine’s Day as a day to celebrate who you are and the people who are already in your life. Remember that though you may be single, you are not alone.