Happy two days post-Valentine’s Day to all my fellow single, lonely-heart readers. You made it!
I mean this genuinely. This Wednesday, we survived all of the Instagram “I love you” stories, last-minute flower orders, happy couples, mail center packages and worst of all — public campus hand-holding. It seems Valentine’s Day is the one day when all public displays of affection become acceptable (even though they are not).
Despite these gruesome scenes, you survived. We survived. And now, it’s time to redirect our focus to the practices that we ignored during those 24 hours — and the 24 hours that followed until the Feb. 14 Instagram stories expired. Damage control, if you will.
So, here’s a five-part list of the to-do’s to get you through the weekend:
(1) Redownload social media.
For the few who gave up entirely on viewing friends’ stories, I understand you. It’s hard enough knowing that your friends are in a relationship, but to publicly see it on their story — and then their partner’s story and then the repost of the partner’s story and then the following “I love you forever” — it’s a four-time stab to the heart that is easily avoidable through simply deleting all social media platforms.
Why all? Because if you are deleting Instagram, you might as well delete Snapchat, TikTok and dare I say Pinterest — Twitter/X is acceptable to keep because, let’s be honest, everyone on there is single.
But, it’s been two days. All of these temporary posts have disappeared into their “my love <3” Instagram Highlight, which can be easily avoided.
(2) Cancel all desperate Valentine hookups.
Now, for those of us who slid into the DMs of a Tinder match from December, it’s probably best to cancel the date before we go into the weekend.
I’m only saying this because we all know that you couldn’t plan the “date” (code for hookup) on a Wednesday night, so you’ve pushed it back to the weekend. Do yourself a favor and drop the classic “Hate to do this!” before it’s too late.
If it makes you feel better, those who actually did have a date (like an actual date) on Valentine’s Day had to do it on a Wednesday night, after class. Embarrassing.
(3) Reblock your ex.
Some of you lonely-hearts made the mistake of reaching out to an ex. You took a few steps back on your breakup healing journey and you woke up the next morning with the harsh realization that your choice might end up doing you more harm than good. It’s been two days and they still haven’t responded, there’s no point in waiting for the potential — and always disappointing — “hey” reply. Brutal.
Save your sanity and reblock.
(4) Start talking to your friends-in-a-relationship again.
We’ve all been there. Some internal wall mysteriously appears between the lonely-hearts and the friends-in-a-relationship. But we need to put our grievances aside and pretend to be happy for them. You don’t want to be the jealous single whose “misplaced” anger costs you your friendship — or until your friend inevitably breaks up with their partner and then comes crawling back looking for advice. Trust me, I’ve been on both sides of this.
Be the better person and reach out. You can invite them to a Malott brunch, a coffee in the Village, or a movie night (and let’s hope they don’t invite their partner … ).
(5) Check in on your fellow lonely-hearts.
If there is only one item that you actually check off from this to-do list, it should be this. Your fellow lonely-hearts have also been struggling through the past two days, just like you.
Many refer to the months leading up to February as “breakup season,” so naturally, Valentine’s can bring up a lot of messy and complicated feelings. Personally, I sent surprise Target Valentine’s cards with googly-eyed bugs to lift the spirits of my friends and — more importantly — remind them that someone somewhere loves them.
Let’s treat this weekend as a welcome to the lonely-hearts club and reminisce about the fact that we are all so much more than having a partner to post on Instagram. Even though that would also be nice.
We all need to take care of each other and ourselves this weekend. It’s only been two days since the dreaded holiday and we only have 364 more days before the next.
Maybe that extra leap day will give you the time to find the love of your life and finally leave our lonely-hearts club. Probably not, though.
Jada Shavers SC ’26 is from Portland, Oregon and loves Trader Joe’s Takis, Malott coffee and puzzles. She survived Valentine’s Day with a package of jam from her mom.