The greeting card and chocolate industries didn’t come up with Valentine’s Day, but they contributed to the reasons why you hate it.

Even though it’s my personal favorite, I get why it’s not everyone’s. It can be a bit…much. But true love isn’t about chocolates and flowers and hearts and cupid and obligatory declarations of love. It’s connection and care, and showing up in meaningful ways when the chocolate’s melting and the flowers are dying - literally and metaphorically.

Instead of the mushy stuff associated with love, let’s focus on what’s true.

What’s true to you, as we head into this Valentine’s Day?

• you’re frustrated that the pandemic continues to keep you from your loved ones

• work or school or parenting or your nosy neighbor or your puppy who doesn’t yet sleep through the night is about to send you over the edge

• you feel like you’re one of the lucky ones and you’re still exhausted

That’s ok. Your people still love you.

And you still love them. Please don’t assume they know. Please tell them. A few examples:

• Send a platonic, romantic, familial or any other kind of “I love you” and know that a three-word message is long enough.

• Let your kid know that you love the person they are becoming, especially during a time when it’s really hard for all of us to be our best selves.

• Make sure your mail carrier knows how much their work means to you, as they handle the outgoing and incoming love.

• Tell the one co-worker who isn’t driving you batty how much you love their daily memes on the office ridiculousness.

• Send some love to a stranger who really needs it, through a program like More Love Letters.

• And if you would like to write an expression of romantic love, you are hereby given permission to keep it real. “I love that we haven’t killed each other during lockdown” is a pure, authentic 2022 expression of love.

Who are you sending a Valentine this year? Let us know in the comments.