10 Ways to Enjoy Your First Newly Single Valentine's Day

If you are newly single, you are about to hit the most difficult day of the year...National Single's Awareness Day (also known as Valentine's Day)!  While you have been avoiding THAT aisle in the grocery store since the day after Christmas when they put up the boxes of chocolate hearts and stuffed animals, now heart balloons are roses are popping up everywhere you go.  This day seem to be taunting you and your shattered heart.

Many years ago, my own divorce was final on December 20th. I managed to make it through Christmas and New Year's Eve and was ready to take on my new life when I walked into the grocery store and was hit in the face with LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.  I felt like I had been stabbed!  The pain was very real and very raw.  When the dreaded day arrived, I was pleasantly surprised when my dad showed up at my front door with a dozen roses.  My young sons surprised me with chocolates, cards and flowers and I realized that while Valentine’s Day was usually about lovers, it could also be about those we love. 

I spent many Valentine’s Days as a single woman and I learned how to make it a day I enjoyed whether than dreaded.  I learned to avoid restaurants on that night because (DUH!) they are filled with happy couples.  Instead, I planned activities on Valentine’s Day so I wasn’t sitting at home ugly crying with a bottle of Cabernet.  Here are 10 ways to not only survive your first single Valentine’s Day but ways you might actually enjoy it!

Throw a Single’s Awareness Day Party for Your Single Friends

You aren’t the only single person that you know. Throw a party!  Create a “Single Awareness Day” cocktail, have heart-shaped snacks (or broken heart snacks), play games.  Pinterest is full of fun ideas.  Even better, have your single friends bring a single friend to the party, you never know what might happen!

Host a Valentine’s Day dinner for kids

If you have kids, this is a fabulous opportunity to make them feel special!  Have Valentine’s for them, decorate the table and serve heart shaped pasta.  Do crafts or make dessert together.  If you don’t have kids, offer to babysit for friends or family members so they can go out and you enjoy the night with the kids.

Pamper Yourself

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to show yourself some love!  Book a mani, pedi or massage.  Buy yourself some luxurious loungewear and wear it while reading that new book you haven’t gotten around to reading while sipping your favorite adult beverage.

Have a Chocolate Tasting

There are so many amazing chocolates in the market now.  Stay away from the cheap chocolate and indulge in some artisanal chocolates with exotic flavors.  Whole Foods has an awesome selection as do most grocery stores’ organic sections. Buy 4 or 5 different kinds and treat your senses to a new experience.

Go Somewhere New

If you and your ex had traditions on Valentine’s Day that are tied to your hometown, then go somewhere else.  Visit a single family member or friend in another town and do something completely new.

Binge Watch Night

If you haven’t caught up on the latest Netflix show or if you are one of the few people in the world who has no idea who the Queen of Dragons is, settle in and find out what all the buzz is about. 

Volunteer

There are lots of organizations that can always use an extra hand regardless of the time of year.  Find a local church or organization where you can volunteer on Valentine’s Day.  Deliver meals, cook and serve meals in a homeless shelter, help at a local food pantry. Nothing puts things into perspective like helping those who have bigger problems than being single.

Attend an “Un-Valentine’s Event

Check out the local activities and meetup groups. One of the most fun Valentine’s Days I ever had was when a friend and I went to a bar for an “Un-Valentine’s Day Party!”  They had dueling pianos with hilarious versions of love songs and the place was filled with singles.

Create a Vision Board

If you didn’t create one in January (or if you have never done one), this is the perfect time to think about what you want your new life to look like.  Where do you want your life to be a year from now?  Five years from now?  Build a visual for you to see every day and work towards.

Deliver Dinner to a Friend or Family Member

Do you have a grandparent or a family member that lives alone?  Maybe they have lost a spouse or maybe they were never married.  Make or pick up dinner and take it to them on Valentine’s Day. Share a meal and some stories!

Hi!  I’m Keri Lauderdale Olson, also known as Recovering Cinderella, www.recoveringcinderella.com.  I am not a therapist (although I can probably use one) or divorce professional.  I am simply a woman who has lived through divorce and wants to help support other women through their own divorces with honesty, humor and a healthy dose of reality.  If you are a woman going through a divorce or if you are divorced and have some insight to share with women going through it, please join my private Facebook support group: https://recoveringcinderella.com/pages/support-group.