Being single on Valentine’s Day is very difficult. It’s as if the world is mocking you, telling you that you have a missing limb of some kind. You may be alone due to choice or circumstance, but in reality, you are complete just the way you are.

Whether you’re single or with someone (or someones), the significance of the day is more than candy hearts, expensive dinners, or who can order the largest bouquet of roses. It’s in the everyday things we do for each other as human beings. The simple act of listening can have more impact that most people realize.

What can you do for yourself that reminds you it is necessary to love yourself first before you love anyone else? That was a hard lesson for me to learn. I was raised to always be giving, that if there was something wrong between two people it was probably going to be my fault.

Obviously, I learned some strange lessons growing up, lessons that kept me in unhealthy relationships far longer than I should have stayed. But when I finally learned that treating myself as a beloved needed to come before I was truly able to love someone else, I found my husband and best friend.

So for Valentine’s Day, I made him something with love. I’m not wild about how my second attempt at a sachertorte, but he loves it. Or at least he says he does. And that’s an equally beautiful gift.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my readers, past readers, and future readers.