Valentine’s Day used to feel like a love story written in bold red letters. It was the one day in the year when love had to be loud gifts wrapped in shiny paper, heart-shaped chocolates, and Instagram captions dripping with sweet words. It was the season of oversized teddy bears, surprise dinner dates, and public displays of affection.
I remember how, as kids, we would exchange tiny red cards in school, sometimes with little sweets attached. Back then, Valentine’s Day was simple, fun, and innocent. But as we grew older, the day became more serious almost like a test of love. If you were in a relationship, you had to prove your affection with grand gestures. If you were single, you were either wishing for someone special or pretending you didn’t care. The world made it seem like love was only valid if it came with roses and a romantic partner.
For a long time, I believed that too. I thought love had to be shown in a certain way to be real. That Valentine’s Day was incomplete without a special someone to celebrate it with. But as time passed, I started to see love differently.
The Valentine I know now is no longer just about candlelit dinners and romantic surprises. It is about love in all its forms. It is the friend who sends you a message just to check in. It is the sibling who saves the last piece of cake for you. It is the mother who prays for you in secret, the father who sacrifices without asking for praise. It is the kind of love that isn’t always loud but is always present.
I have come to understand that love doesn’t need a stage. It doesn’t need to be proven with expensive gifts or public declarations. Love is in the small things the people who listen, the ones who stay, the kindness we show to ourselves. It is in the moments that don’t make it to social media but are felt deeply in the heart.
This new Valentine, the one I know now, is softer, quieter, but more meaningful. It is no longer a day that measures love by grand gestures, but one that reminds me to cherish the love that surrounds me every day. Whether it’s self-love, the love of friends, or the love of family, I now see Valentine’s Day as a celebration of love in all its beautiful, imperfect forms.
