But for me … it was Tuesday.

So, today is Valentine’s Day. I was thinking about this a few weeks ago. Being unattached, I don’t have any big plans for today, and was idly wondering what day it was. I noted it was Tuesday, and then that immortal line from Street Fighter struck me: for others, this will be a big day, with flowers and gifts and dinners and all sorts of romantic things. But for me … it will be Tuesday. I’m likely to watch a little DS9, set up an Arkham Horror game a little more for a solo game — there’s a lot to set up there if you are including all the expansions — and update some games on boardgamegeek (my players are lucky that I have no life [grin]). So, nothing special at all.

Personally, I think this is how people should handle holidays that don’t apply to them, especially if things about the holidays might make them feel bad. Some people who are unattached will feel like they’re missing out, and get lonely and depressed because they don’t have someone to share it with. I’m not in that camp, but the incessant pounding of that message into all of the Valentine’s Day advertising can make even me briefly think about it. And my answer to that is simple: don’t. Treat the day just like another day. Don’t try to do something to celebrate singleness as a reaction to it, don’t do something special for yourself to compensate, don’t sit around lamenting how you can’t participate. Treat it like Tuesday, ignoring it completely. Because anything else in some way will just remind you of the things you are trying to forget.

I also think that this can apply to any holdiay. Can’t see your family at Christmas, or are alone on it? Treat it like another day, and just do what you’d normally do. No New Year’s Eve date? Treat it like another evening, stay home, and don’t even bother to ring in the New Year.

This is, of course, easier for me, because it’s generally what I’d do by default, and so this advice might not be that great. But I think this can work, and work better than a lot of the other things.

Now, am I breaking my rule by posting this today? No. Because I didn’t really post this because today is Valentine’s Day. I posted it because it’s Tuesday.