Valentine’s Day is a time of affection, adoration and unrealistic expectations. The commercialized holiday has morphed from a pure tradition to an extravagant spending contest. Modern society feels obliged to make the day memorable by displaying their love with expensive dinners, gifts and jewelry. Companies thrive on their consumers’ false belief that gifts are always purchased with love and not just a credit card.

However, love shouldn’t be confined to a single day. Although cliché, the best gift one can give another is time and attention. Natural emotion, shown through the most basic actions, is the best way to prove how much someone means to them.

Instead of pouring a great amount of energy into manufacturing one day of magical romance, small tokens of love should be distributed every day. Valentine’s Day should continue to be celebrated, but altered so that the focus returns to relationships as opposed to material items.

Although those who are single sulk about their void love life or disregard the holiday completely, they should enjoy the event as well.

By definition, Valentine’s Day is an annual celebration of love between companions. Therefore, single men and women can take the opportunity to spend time with the friends and family that have always been there for them.

Whether one takes a group trip to the spa or invites the boys over for a video game marathon, Valentine’s Day is the ideal opportunity to spend additional time with loved ones.