A piece on loving Valentine’s Day–beyond romance
At the start of February, what college student isn’t exhausted? It seems like you’ve been alone through the dreary start of the second semester, only to find unwanted company with an overbearing amount of exams. And right in the middle of it all, Valentine’s Day arrives.
It’s one of the year’s most debated holidays. You either love it, hate it, or strongly insist you don’t care at all. For a lot of people, it feels impossible not to see it as a cash grab—your For You page filled with gift guides and extravagant dinners that feel completely out of reach as a college student surviving off dining dollars. In moments like that, it’s easy to wonder if Valentine’s Day is even worth celebrating.
The holiday has become so closely tied to romance that we forget how wide love actually is. Love doesn’t only exist in relationships. It exists quietly, constantly, in places we often overlook, if we let ourselves notice it.
Redefining what love looks like
After long days of classes and confusion, when everything feels heavy, some friends make life feel lighter again. The small study sessions, dining hall dinners, and conversations that leave us laughing until our ribs hurt are the moments that carry more meaning than we realize at the time. Sure, I didn’t feel it at first, but coming back from winter break, it was so refreshing to have the same people there, more memories and stories to be shared from our time apart, and even more in this new semester together.
Platonic love is steady. It shows up without asking for anything in return. There’s something deeply comforting about the people who check in, who ask how you’re doing, and actually wait for the answer.
This winter has been harder than I expected. The semester didn’t start the way I imagined it would, and I found myself disappointed: unfocused, unmotivated, and feeling like I’d already fallen behind on promises I made to myself. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, feeling guilty that I’m not in the same state I was when studying for finals, a high decline from the peak of focus.
Most mornings, waking up for a 9 a.m. felt unbearable. But slowly, I started noticing things worth loving anyway. The quiet routine of getting ready. Coffee warming my hands. Music playing while the world outside stayed still. The immediate feeling of warm air when you enter your lecture hall after walking for what seems like forever in the snow. And, most of all, looking outside and seeing the reminder that, no matter how yesterday went, the sun was still shining.
Let presence be enough
I’ve learned that love doesn’t always arrive in the silhouette of a person. Sometimes it arrives as a moment, small and fleeting, when everything feels briefly okay, and you remember that you belong to something much bigger than you could ever truly imagine.
And sometimes, love lives within yourself, even when it feels buried deep. It exists in the fact that you kept going. That you showed up. That you got back up, even when the world pushed you down. That, too, is love.
What I find love in might not be what you find love in, but that doesn’t make it any less real. Feelings don’t need to be measured or compared. Maybe love is a lot quieter or smaller than we expect it to be. But the fact that it’s there, that’s what makes it count.
So this Valentine’s Day, hold close whatever makes you feel grounded: someone, something, a moment. Choose gratitude over longing. Trust that love, in all its forms, exists around you, and that it will continue to find you through thick and thin.