If you’re in a couple, you’re probably already planning what to do for Valentine’s. If you’re single, you might be dreading it.

The holiday was once a chance for people to confess their secret love for each other, but has now become more about already established couples showing off their shared bliss by posting it all over Instagram. 

Singles Awareness Day is a holiday that puts the focus back on single people. 

No one’s really sure how or when it started, there is a website for Singles Awareness Day, although it looks like no one’s updated it for a while.

What Is Singles Awareness Day?

Held on February 15th (the day after Valentine’s in case you really didn’t know), the holiday champions single people, calling for them to celebrate their single status.

The holiday is sometimes also called Singles Appreciation Day, which, while encouraging single people, still has the acronym SAD. 

It’s not immediately clear whether this is intentionally ironic or not. 

But people seem to appreciate the sentiment - the hashtag #SinglesAwarenessDay has over 40,000 posts on Instagram, and social media is flooded with posts about it every year. 

It’s important to note that Singles Awareness Day should be a celebration of being single, rather than an opportunity to be bitter and jealous of everyone in relationships. 

If you’re single this February, maybe you should celebrate being single.

Why Should We Celebrate Singles Awareness Day?

Being In A Relationship Shouldn’t Define Your Whole Life

One of the most immediate reasons to celebrate being single is the fact that you’re free to define yourself and your life however you want.

Society puts a lot of pressure on us to be in relationships, and for those relationships to follow predictable patterns. 

If you’ve been single for a while, you’ve probably had someone in your family ask ‘when are you going to find someone’, or ‘why haven’t you settled down yet?’ 

These questions put us on the defensive, forcing us to justify our lives and choices, and are absolutely no fun for anyone.

Singles Awareness Day reminds us that relationships shouldn’t be the defining aspect of our lives, that we’re complete people whether or not we have a partner. 

Read more about why you should love yourself before anyone else. 

It Puts A Focus On You And What You Want

Another reason to celebrate Singles Awareness Day is that the day reaffirms you as an individual, someone who can go after whatever it is you want.

There’s a lot of advice out there that says relationships are maintained through compromise, that you have to consider how your words and actions will impact your partner, and filter your behaviour through that lense. 

This is arguably true.

However, one of the biggest upsides to being single is that you don’t have to worry about this! 

There’s nothing and no one standing between you and what you want, no one to think about before saying yes, no one to check in with before making a decision. 

You can focus on yourself, what you want to achieve, what you want to learn. 

But of course, just because you’re single doesn’t mean you’re alone.

You Can Spend More Time With Your Friends

Another reason to celebrate being single is that you can spend more time with your friends. 

Relationships take a lot of effort, energy, and time. When we start a new relationship, our friendships can sometimes suffer, because we aren’t spending as much time with them anymore. 

Being single means you have more time to spend with them, creating memories, catching up, and having fun.

If you’re single and happy about it, why not celebrate that on Singles Awareness Day?