by Sunshine Spinek

Created on: January 31, 2007   Last Updated: April 23, 2007

Valentine's Day is fast approaching, and for those men and women without someone of the opposite sex (who isn't a family member) it can be hard to face the fourteenth with a sense of overwhelming excitement. The fact is, not everyone has someone; but is that really the case?

I myself take comfort in the arms of my lazy-boy couch. It's large soft shoulders support me no matter what, whether my decision is to take life easy and recline into solitude on this Day of happy couples, or lean forward to catch a glimpse of hopeful love in a rented "chick" flick.

If you don't have a beloved piece of furniture at your call, you can always call up a friend or two who share your passion for the single life and make a night of it, whether it is on the town painting it red or on the living room floor painting your toenails crimson. A friend is a perfect defendant in the trial of life; they will always help you to forget yourself, when you need to the most.

Another fabulous alternative to going stag is to "date yourself." Go all out, after all, you know exactly what you want, or at least I hope most of you have figured it out. Go pick up some delicious take out, or order it to your door. Turn on your favorite music and run yourself a bath so hot your skin will steam. use all the good stuff; the fine china that Aunt Mable bought you. The hand made soap you bought at the health food store. The bath bubbles under the sink with dust accumulating on the bottle. Don't spare any expense, and work your own magic.

You could also do the opposite and take the focus off yourself completely. The best medicine for self pity is helping others. I'm sure the workers down at the food shelters could use a good pair of hands, and while you're busy feeding the starved and lonely, you might look deeper inside yourself and learn that there are worse things than being alone on the fourteenth of February.

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