The 3 biggest Valentine's disappointments

(and how to survive them)

When he walked up the stairs to the bedroom, I knew I had gone too far. There were rose petals on the stairs. My god, what was I thinking?! You see, Valentine's equals terror...

Call it a commercial nonsense day or not, I celebrate Valentine's. Every year. And every year something goes wrong. It's just like New Year's Eve perhaps the biggest festival of disappointments. The rose petal situation from above? About six years ago, I agreed with my boyfriend to do ‘not something big’ for Valentine's. Besides, his birthday is on February 16, so we would focus on that. That ‘not something big’ I, of course, interpreted completely differently, turning the bedroom into a sort of tacky velvet porn palace with champagne, tasty snacks, and new lingerie. He gave me a card. That was his interpretation of ‘something small’. A card with very dear, carefully considered affectionate words, but all I saw was ONE CARD. I don't know if it was the disappointment of his poor little ‘gift’ or the shame that I had totally worked myself into a frenzy to fix Project Porn Palace, but despite trying to hold it back, I ended up bursting into tears.

“Call it a commercial nonsense day or not, I celebrate Valentine's.”

Meanwhile, Sander and I are cracking up about the above situation, but it still requires caution with Valentine's. The devilish day of love can sometimes come out nasty. And then it's especially important not to let your day be ruined (like I did). How do you do that?

1. Your love declaration goes wrong

You've put on your brave shoes, signed your name on that ‘anonymous’ Valentine's card, and in the days that follow, you hear... nothing. In fact: you notice that the person in question is acting strangely. Literally every woman – and also every man, by the way – experiences a moment when they are in love with someone who doesn't feel the same way. My only advice: as painful as it is, let it go. You deserve someone who can't stay away from you. And believe me: that person is out there.

2. You are in a relationship and absolutely eh, NOTHING happens on February 14

How do you prevent this? Make clear agreements. Either both of you celebrate Valentine's or neither of you does. Oh, and if you haven't agreed, don't secretly do something anyway, because then you only give the other person, who has really stuck to the agreement, a bad feeling.

3. You are single and are dying of annoyance at all the love expressions around you

How do you get through this day? Listen to as little radio as possible (24 hours of love songs, blegh), stay FAR away from all programs that start with All You Need Is... (unless it ends with chocolate because there are happiness hormones in that. You know, just eat a lot of chocolate that day.) And above all: don't wallow in self-pity by thinking about what you don't have. Try to list the things you do have. Freedom, independence, and you can wrap yourself up in your duvet tonight without anyone nagging. TOP!. When he walked up the stairs to the bedroom, I knew I had gone too far. There were rose petals on the stairs. My god, what was I thinking?! You see...