Valentine's Day is this week. Or, for many of us, the most sickeningly sweet day of the year.

Sure, the holidays are usually ranked as the most depressing time for singles — and possibly most damaging because the season lasts so friggin' long — but at least there are religious overtones and family connections that can be celebrated and cultivated (or, at the very least, used as a distraction) during that time.

Valentine's Day, on the other hand, is decidedly and explicitly a day for couples. Period. Hands down (though there's a pretense of a real St. Valentine but, really, who believes that). It's a day for lovers to declare l'amour — with all the bouquets, chocolates, candlelit dinners, sappy cards and foreplay they can muster.

But I'm not bitter. Really. I've never been a big Valentine's Day devotee, even when in a relationship.

But I do kinda miss the days when we decorated paper sacks with pink and red heart cutouts and dropped a Valentine in everyone's sack. Even the guy in the back who picked his nose all the time and tried to squeeze out the classroom hamster's eyes got some love that day.

So, to honor this day, I've decided to share Argosy University/Seattle professor of psychology Dr. Laura S. Brown's Valentine's Day Survival Guide for Singles from Chiff.com — with my commentary in parentheses:

µ.Do not define yourself by your relationship status. Your relationship status is not your identity. (‘Nuff said.)

µ.If you are single because of a recent loss, allow this to be a day of grieving. Get support and sympathy. (And remember the good times.)

µ.Realize that Valentine's Day is a commercial holiday. It is not about love and relationships; it is about selling flowers, candy and diamond jewelry. Think of all the money you are saving. (Enough for that dress you just have to have, huh? Or that drink at the bar.)

µ.Get together with people who do love you — friends, family members, the people who already have relationships with you. (They love the good and the bad about you.)

µ.If you are single and you don't want to be, start now to think about what is in the way of you creating the relationship you want. Find ways to work on becoming the person your dream partner would fall in love with. It is into the fullest lives that love is most likely to fall. (Even if it doesn't, you'll be a better person for it.)

µ.If you are single and you like it, now is the time to affirm your choice. People who never marry or partner have close, loving, emotionally intimate relationships and lives worth living. Do not let a couple-driven culture define your choice as something wrong. (Amen.)

Now go out into the world and spread some lovin' — ultimately, love yourself.

Happy Valentine's Day!