Single on Valentine's.

  I'm not normally the person you'd want to call for relationship advice. In fact, I'm probably the least qualified to give relationship advice of any sort because of my lack of knowledge in the area. I've never had a boyfriend, and every crush I've ever had hasn't turned out the way I'd planned. So, yes. I'm not very well qualified to write a blog post about love and happily ever afters and finding "the one" and all that Valentine's Day mush. But, I still am very much qualified all the same.

  Valentine's Day is coming up, and you can have one of two opinions about the holiday. You can 1) be the one who has a special love and is thrilled to spend time with him/her expressing your love and affection toward them, or 2) you don't have a valentine and you hate that there's a devoted day to reminding you that you're single and you just want the day to be over with altogether. I've always been the #2 type of gal. I'm not saying that being single is necessarily a bad thing. It's just a little depressing when you see couples holding hands and big pink hearts at every store you visit, and you don't have that.

  But in fact, being single is a wonderful thing. And if you happen to be single (or without your love at the moment) on Valentine's Day, don't throw yourself a pity party! You only become even more depressed. But instead, celebrate! YOU (yes, you. The person reading this blog right now) are an amazing person, and you should not be down about not having somebody special to give roses or kisses to on a single day of the whole year. Valentine's Day only comes once, so there's no need to make a huge deal about it in a sad, pathetic, snotty-tissue, curl-up-in-your-pjs-and-watch-sappy-romantic-movies-kind-of way.

  When you're single, it's easy to see couples holding hands and guys giving their girls flowers and not wishing for something like that for yourself. I would be lying to you if I said that I've never wanted that. I would be lying if I told you that when I see couples around town, being all cute and doing couple-y things, that I don't want that for myself. I'm a girl. I've grown up dreaming of my perfect wedding and what my future husband would be like. Of course I want to be a part of a couple. I want to have a boyfriend. And in time, I want to have a perfect wedding and have a fantastic marriage with a wonderful guy. But it isn't time for that. And that's okay.
  So if you're like me and you don't have a man (or woman) to call your own, don't fret. I know you want all those things for yourself, and I want them for you too! I know someone really special is out there for you, they're just not ready. And sometimes, neither are you.

  It's important to know who you really are. If you're not sure about that, then how can you handle being in a relationship and knowing about the other person as well? How are you supposed to keep your girlfriend/boyfriend happy if you can't even keep yourself happy? You have to know what you want and the importance of being you and loving yourself, before you can ever think about providing or truly caring about a significant other. If you don't, then you'll only end up hurting that other person and eventually hurting yourself too. Author and speaker Jason Evert said it very well himself:

"Don't worry about finding your soul mate. Find yourself."

  Love is a complicated thing. Trust me, I know. Like I told you, all of the crushes I've had in my past have not really worked out like I had planned. But, finding the right guy isn't my top priority right now. Right now, I want to finish high school. I want to work on improving myself on the guitar. I want to spend time with my little brothers before they grow up on me too fast. I want to get my license and to go on road trips in the summer with my best friends. I want to have photoshoots with them. I want to be me. Having a boyfriend isn't of utmost importance in my life at the moment. And that's okay. Until that day comes, I'll worry about myself and not my future husband.

  So instead of moping around on Valentine's Day, wishing you had a boyfriend or girlfriend, celebrate yourself. Don't worry about love. Because trust me, worrying won't help a bit. It'll just add wrinkles and grey hair (and you don't want that!). Love on your friends instead and have a great time! You deserve it.

Always, Rebecca