Valentine’s Day is a romantic holiday when couples celebrate their relationship through heartfelt gestures that include dinner dates and chocolate hearts. It’s highly commercialized and brings in a lot of profit for many businesses and companies.

Some people look forward to Valentine’s Day so that they can show their love and appreciation for their significant other, while some people dread the holiday because they don’t have a significant other.

However, around the world, Valentine’s Day is not just for couples. Huffpost says that on February 14th, the people of Finland celebrate “Ystavanpaiva,” which translates to “Friends Day,” and in Mexico, they celebrate the “Dia del amor y la amistad” or the day of love and friendship.

There are so many different forms of love worth acknowledgment. There is love between a parent and child. There is love between siblings. There is love between friends. There is even love between pets and their owners.

But I would argue that the most important form of love is self-love. So, if you need an excuse to spoil yourself, then this is it! Go buy chocolate-covered strawberries and eat them all. Get yourself that chocolate heart you’ve been eyeing since they put it out for Valentine’s Day. Take your best friends out for dinner and exchange small gifts with each other. Buy your Mom and Dad a gift certificate for their favorite restaurant. If you have younger siblings, get them a small Valentine’s Day gift or take them out. If you are more of a homebody, put on your favorite romantic comedy and cuddle up with your pet. You don’t need a significant other to celebrate the 14th. There are more than enough teddy bears, chocolate hearts, balloons, and Bath and Body work’s candles to go around. I should probably mention that the real holiday is the day after, the 15th when everything is half price, but that’s an article for a different day.

The bottom line is, instead of waiting for the day in which you will have a significant other to make plans with on Valentine’s Day, go out and celebrate and show appreciation for all the great forms of love you have in your life. Take a look around at all of the people you can spend time with. It is also important to remember that showing your love and appreciation for the special people in your life does not have to fall on February 14th. Neither does celebrating all the challenges you have overcome and the accomplishments you made along this journey we all call life.