You roll out of bed on the 14th of February after waking up to the PTSD-inducing iPhone alarm instead of a heartfelt Valentine’s message from a loved one. After that rude awakening, you spend your day walking around school scowling at the happy couples, like some sort of Cupid’s Day Grinch. But before you go and eat a whole pound of chocolate you bought for yourself and down that whole pint of Love Potion 31 from Baskin Robbins (because we all love those little caramel hearts), think about the upside.
At least those $30 were spent on you, and you have all your hoodies color-coordinated and fully stocked. Now no one can contest you over which movie to watch, and that movie theater snack bill is looking a little lighter now that you’re only buying overpriced popcorn for one. This can make you appreciate being alone, even if that appreciation only lasts as long as Saltburn before going back to watching couples discuss what they thought of Jacob Elordi’s grand performance and a lonely midnight car ride home.
Genuine self love can be hard to come by in the modern day of choosing which of the 15 selfies you took has the least amount of acne visible to post on Instagram. Maybe real self-love starts with listening to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” for the fourth time on repeat with Drake’s “Marvin’s room” and “Mr. Lonely” by Akon queued.
Of course, listening to music about that void left in your heart may be a good way of coping for a short period of time, but it doesn’t replace self-love.
“You can’t go backwards in time, but you can learn from mistakes and be a better person in the future.”
I’ve found the first step of self-love is moving forward. Replicating the past is only going to make you wonder why the same thing isn’t working this time. You can’t go backwards in time, but you can learn from mistakes and be a better person in the future. Now does this mean that you should try to change who you are as a person, and lose what makes you, you? Of course not; moving forward can be as small as setting aside 30 minutes a day for some no-phone you-time or as big as branching out and meeting new friends.
So keep that same energy, because you’ve got you. Just remember to keep moving forward no matter how much you want to try the same things as last time. But don’t worry, that box of chocolates and pint of ice cream will always be there in your time of need.