How to cope with Valentine's Day when you're a single girl.

Red hearts everywhere. Little hearts, big hearts, balloon hearts around every corner. Quite frustrating when you have yet another year where the 14th of February means nothing more to you as the evidence that you are halfway through the second month of the year.

For many people, especially those who have been single for a very long time (I'm slowly raising my hand while stuffing a chocolate candy - heart-shaped, a gift from my father -  in my mouth with the other hand) but there are a few ways to escape the one day of the year where people rub it in your face that they get to cuddle and kiss more often, than you do.

      1. Don't stay at home (to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's for the quadrillionth 
         time to cry your hearts out)

      2. Go (Window) Shopping: Grab your best girlfriend(s) or your mother and 
         go to the mall or stroll a along a beautiful shopping street and have fun while
         looking at shop windows or trying on ridiculous clothes. If you find a pair of 
         shoes that you like or a bag that you suddenly couldn't live without - buy it! 
         You don't need a man to get you the things you love!

      3. Don't listen to the Spotify Playlist for Disney's 
    Greatest Love Songs: Mainly because you will cry your eyes out
          when "Candle On The Water" comes on...

      4. Make it a Girl's Night (singles preferred - 
    to prevent you from listening to the only girl 
    with a boyfriend moaning about her boyfriend being 
    out of town- trust me, I have experience):

        Invite your best girlfriend(s) who bring wine and cheese to watch 
        Anti-Valentine's Day movies (anything NOT related to Nicholas Sparks 
        or movies produced by those who brought you Love Actually or Valentine's Day).
        Try action or thriller movies with guys worth drooling, like Drive with Ryan
        Gosling or (my personal favorite) Fight Club with Brad Pitt and
        Edward Norton.

      5. Take your power-playlist and go out for a jog!
   (okay, I'm sorry, this one sucks)

      6. Don't go on a date with a person you've only gone 
    out with just once or twice): The two of you will just 
          feel awkward while sitting between plenty of couples who have been 
          doing this for years. There will be this unnecessary inconvenience between 

          the two of you and you will feel obligated to do things that you are not 
          ready to do yet (like sharing a dessert...). If he asks you out, don't 
          come up with a weird excuse, he will just think that you're not interested, 
          even though you might are. Just tell him the truth and ask him how he feels 
          about going out on such a big day for couples. Why not go out the day 

          before or the day after (BONUS: it will also be easier to get a reservation 
          in your favorite restaurant)

      7. Don't get too drunk: No other day of the year asks more for drunk
          texting your ex than Valentine's Day.

      8. Wear your prettiest smile and sexiest outfit to work: 
          everybody will think: "Wow, she's sexy and single and she loves it!". 
          Envious looks of women with dinner reservations from their Valentine 
          will give you killer-confidence (I'm guilty, I think picked up this collocation 
          somewhere in Cosmopolitan)

      9. Pamper yourself: go to the hairdresser, get a mani-pedi, go to the 
          gym to do some relaxing yoga - this day is about you! 

     10. Flirt! The barista who made you your coffee is kind of cute and he 
           just gave you a tiny smile? Smile back and if you are wearing your 
           Cosmopolitan killer-confidence you can even blow a kiss or wink at him. 
           He will think it's cute (NOT desperate!) and the next time you order a 
           coffee he will give you extra cream - or whatever else you want!