f you are in a loving relationship, then every February 14th can be one of the best days of the year. Valentine’s Day is a holiday that is supposed to be filled with love, affection, and lovely gifts between partners and crushes, but it might surprise you to hear that the big day isn't always champagne and roses! Here are some facts about Valentine’s Day that will make you sad.
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1. Mystery Victorian Cards
In Victorian times, the point was to send Valentine’s cards to your crush, but not to sign them or give any hint of yourself. This creates fun and mystery, but ultimately, you are left with no progress because your crush didn’t know who sent it!
2. Tons of Waste
Every single year, the spike in jewellery being bought for people around the world on Valentine’s Day results in around 34 million extra tons of waste - for one single holiday!? From packaging to balloons and everything in between, V Day is a plastic nightmare.
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This staggering amount embodies not just the immediate trappings of the holiday such as gift-wrapping, plastic flowers, and novelty items, but also the less obvious contributors like the increase in shipping materials used to deliver that surge of online purchases. Tied to this disposable culture is the forgotten aftermath—items thoughtlessly discarded, their short-lived purpose expiring with the day's end. Multiply this by the millions who partake, and Valentine's Day becomes not just a symbol of affection, but a serious environmental concern that many don't realize they're part of.
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3. Depression
Recent surveys have shown that around 10 percent of all young adults admit to feeling more depressed on Valentine’s Day, either because they don’t have someone to celebrate with or they feel too much pressure to make the right choices.
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The reasons behind this melancholy encompass the intense social and media portrayal of romantic love which often distorts expectations. Those facing mental health challenges can find this time particularly tough as the emphasis on coupledom is exaggerated, leaving singles feeling isolated and inadequate. This sense of loneliness can be exacerbated by the barrage of social media posts of perfect couples celebrating, inadvertently intensifying feelings of exclusion for those who are single or in complex relationships. It's a poignant reminder that this holiday, supposed to celebrate love, can instead highlight the lack thereof and magnify personal insecurities.
4. Old Candy
You know those candy hearts with little messages on them? A recent expose revealed that some companies keep remainder stock year after year, and without knowing it you could be buying sweets for your boo that are more then five years old!
5. Execution
The origin story of Valentine’s Day is actually a really sad one, in the fact that St. Valentine was a man who performed secret weddings for people, and was executed for his efforts!
6. Overpricing
The cynical side of Valentine’s Day is enough to make anyone sad. Test it out for yourself, I guarantee that the bunches of flowers and boxes of chocolates are much cheaper two weeks before Feb 14th than they are two days before.
7. Sex Pressure
There is a lot of pressure put on Valentine’s Day as being a day when sex is number one on the agenda. This can be quite worrying to a large percentage of women (and some men) around the world who want to feel loved, but don’t want to feel pressured in to doing something they aren’t ready for.
8. Hallmark Strategies
You like to think that your Valentine’s gift choices come from the heart, but the truth is that you are probably just another cog in the huge Hallmark machine who has been tricked in to thinking that you are being original!
9. Not Green
V Day is certainly not a very green holiday. February is still a cold month in most countries, which means that to accommodate for all of the exotic flower buying, there is a huge carbon footprint increase thanks to importing.
10. Profit
To business, Valentine’s Day is all about making a big profit, and they will manipulate as much as they can to make you hand over all your cash!
11. Singles Awareness Day
V Day can be really depressing if you are single and have no one showering you will gifts, and the 15th has been taken up by Singles Awareness Day to give us lonely gals out there something to have in common!
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Singles Awareness Day, or S.A.D. for short—oh, the irony—is like an antidote to the romance overdose the previous day. It's a wink to self-love amid all those heart-shaped balloons. Whether you're rocking the single life by choice or just by current circumstance, it's a day to celebrate individuality, independence, and maybe spoil yourself. Forget the roses; buy that book you've been eyeing, or splurge on a spa day. After all, who says you need someone else to feel special? Own it. Let's transform this 'S.A.D.' day into a Self-Affirmation Day!
12. XOXO
Did you know that this traditional sign off that we see as being romantic kisses actually arose because people tended to be illiterate and not know how to spell their own names?
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Often used at the end of a love letter, the symbols "X" and "O" have evolved to become universal emblems of affection. While "X" represents the lips during a kiss, "O" is said to symbolize an embrace. This simple yet profound practice of signing off connects to a time when personal expressions of love didn't require grand gestures or perfect prose – just a heartfelt symbol that could transcend words and education. It's a bittersweet reminder that sometimes love's most powerful messages are those that are unspoken.
13. Broken Heart Chocs
Did you know that doctors used to prescribe chocolates as a remedy for a broken heart? It puts them in a slightly different light!
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While it may sound like a sweet antiquated cure, the idea wasn't entirely unfounded. Chocolates contain phenylethylamine, a compound thought to simulate feelings of being in love. So when 17th-century physicians recommended a dose of cocoa to the lovelorn, it was believed to mend a pining heart. Although today's medicine might not include confectioneries in prescriptions, indulging in some chocolate on Valentine's Day can have a temporary uplifting effect, making it a modern ritual for both the joyous and the heartbroken.
14. Crazy Feasts
The modern tradition for V Day is going to a nice restaurant with your boo, but back in the olden days, the aim for dinner was to eat lots of bizarre foods to encourage vivid dreams, and in those dreams your aim was to visualise your future husband!
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