As Valentine’s Day approaches, millions of people are feeling lonely pangs of the “I Ain’t Got Nobody Blues” and putting themselves through all kinds of angst and uncomfortable emotions because they fear that they are missing out on something. FOMO, or fear of missing out, can hijack your heart and make you feel less than, just because someone else is doing something you think you might want to do someday.
Most people want to be in a romantic relationship, but the truth is most people are single and have had more breakups than they care to remember. Many try to steer their gaze away from all of the Valentine’s paraphernalia that hits the supermarket shelves on Jan. 2. And that’s understandable.
I don’t think there’s another holiday that makes more people feel left out than Valentine’s Day. When I was a child, at this time of year, the teachers would ask everyone in the class to make an envelope out of construction paper and tape that we would decorate, write our names on, and hang over the back of our chairs.
Then we would put our heads down on the desk, and be tapped on the shoulder, one at a time, to put Valentine cards we’d brought into the envelopes of the other kids — the ones that we liked. This was cute, unless you didn’t have many friends. I remember one year getting a card from the teacher and one from the kid whose mom told them to make a Valentine for every student in the class (Thanks, Mrs. Kibby). I was no Ferris Bueller. It was heartbreaking, and it still stings a little to remember it.
