There’s a lot of important things that happen in February: my birthday, the Super Bowl, the occasional 29th day of the month, and my birthday again, because I have the right to reserve a whole month for myself.

And that’s it… that’s ALL there is to February, absolutely NOTHING else.

I get it.

You think I’m trying to be funny because I didn’t mention Valentine’s Day.

Listen, I know that’s a thing. Heck, 16-year-old me made a whole history video about the holiday. But, 16-year-old-me also had a girlfriend that he broke up with two days before Valentine’s Day, so editing that video was the closest he got to celebrating that year.

So, does it REALLY count if you don’t celebrate it? Think about it. What would you do if you were single during Valentine’s Day? Go to the gym? Hangout with friends? Sure, that’s fun, but that isn’t celebrating Valentines Day-that’s trying to ignore that Valentines Day is a thing.

Sometimes people play off ignorance better than others. I know the fellas posting gym picks with an early 2000s track playing in the background are having a real hard time.

Now some could say (my coworkers) that I’d be one of those guys. I meet all the criteria. Single, gym obsessed, and a connoisseur of Eminem, but I’m not the type of person to post that stuff. 

Even though I am aware that I have a substantial amount of muscle mass coupled with a variety of visible veins to make me conventionally attractive.

Don’t take it from me, take it from a previous talking stage of mine that said straight to my face “Ouuu, sleeper build.” (That talking stage quickly fell apart).

Dating is weird. For me at least, which is the main reason why my boss told me to write this article. What, you think I had an option? I’m the most qualified to talk about single life!

I mean it, so if you’re an executive of a love magazine and are trying to get single people to write about their experiences, my Linked-In is on my profile.

I’ve been single for a total of 17 months, 24 days, and one hour and 53 minutes since this story’s last refresh, but who’s counting? Me, I am. See that ticker started counting down when I got dumped, which was on my second day of college… ever.

Sucked at the time, but it’s made every other second day of school better, because how could it possibly be worse!

I’ve learned a lot during my time of being a single man. Notably, dating is expensive, texting is a weird gray zone of communication, and it’s always a bad idea to try and win over your ex. Seriously, don’t do it.

But the main lesson I’ve learned is to let things go. When I started college, I had a hard time adjusting my personal life. I missed my high school friends and felt as though my life was going through a hard reset. 

An old partner won’t fix those emotions though. The crux of that job falls on you. I got lucky and had great family and friends who helped me get over myself.  

It also took me a year to beat those feelings, but better late than never! 

Yet I’m still single. Valentine’s Day is coming up and I have absolutely NOBODY to ask. So what’s a manly man like me who now shaves twice a week bound to do? 

Nothing.  

Don’t do anything.  

Last summer my adopted big brother, Kristian Hernandez, hung out with me a lot for reasons unexplained. I had tried to win over a friend of mine who turned into a huge crush before the end of the spring semester, but it didn’t work out.  

Kristian taught me an important lesson. You can’t force relationships. You can’t force love.  

It sounds simple. Of course we can’t force feelings, that’s unnatural. We shouldn’t force a relationship that causes resentment.  

But I don’t think that we as humans realize that we do that all the time. If I can ask, have you ever slid into a stranger’s DMs? Have you kept someone around despite not having strong feelings for them? Do you keep texting someone because you like the attention? Are dates still happening because you’re holding on to the hope that suddenly one day you’ll be soaked with strong emotions?  

I’m sorry, my friend, but if you said yes to any of these, or any other situation in relation, you’re guilty of forcing relationships. As our generation has begun to date, we’ve built our emotions around communal thought, ideal looks, social media profiles and validation.  

I think the last one is the trait that humans seek the most. We want validation, and we think that a romantic partner will help us find it.  

It’s hard to remember that this is not true. You can have a partner that tells you everything you’d like to hear, but it’s not going to make you believe in yourself all the more. 

Because in order to find true validation, you need to believe in you.  

So don’t do anything. Because acting sporadically out of the fear of being lonely during a romantic holiday that became popular thanks to advertising is not the proper road to take if you want true love.  

If you truly want to make the most out of your Valentine’s Day, then you can do that without a partner.  

All you have to do is take the time to love yourself.

Congrats! You consumed a piece of media with multiple parts without Minecraft or Subway Surfers gameplay in the background!  

Don’t fret that you’re single during Valentines Day; your wallet loves you for it!  

Now before we depart, I’d like to give one last tip. If you have a job, then you’ve most likely been handed a manual. Typically, there will be a part that recommends you to not become romantically involved with your co-workers.  

My suggestion? Listen to it.  

And remember, this month’s my birthday! And ONLY my birthday.

Sebastian Perez-Navarro is the multimedia editor for The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected] or Instagram and X @sebastianpn8, and on LinkedIn @sebastianperez-navarro.