Valentine’s Day is soon! I really love Valentine’s Day and I think it’s one of the more exciting holidays. It’s special in a lot of ways, you know? It can be romantic, but it’s not necessarily just about romance.

Valentine’s Day, to me, is about special moments. What I really love about it is that it’s not just one special moment, but kind of a combination of all of them. I feel like Valentine’s Day tries to recapture everyone’s “firsts” and lets us relive them for one day of the year. Because of this, it reminds me a lot of new adult romance, too.

One of the best things about new adult romance is that it’s something everyone can relate to. Whether you’re younger and currently going through being a new adult, or if you’re older and have already gone through it, it’s an experience that everyone will have at some point in time. It’s like a first kiss, you know? You always remember your first kiss, no matter where it was or who it was with. Hopefully your first kiss was really nice, but sometimes they aren’t. There’s lots of other romantic firsts, too, so don’t disregard those, either!

So, saying all of that, I feel like Valentine’s Day and new adult romance are a natural complement to each other. New adult romance lets us re-imagine our own coming of age. We can remember the feelings of being a new adult, whether it happened yesterday or a lot more yesterdays ago. We can remember being in good or bad relationships. We remember our first loves, our first kisses, our first time being intimate with someone in other ways, too. Maybe it’s the first time we invited someone to stay the night at our apartment, or the first night someone invited us to do the same. The first time we were invited for coffee, or to a certain restaurant.

New adult romance is about figuring out how to deal with all of these firsts. It’s about the experience, but also about the journey, you know? Valentine’s Day is all about remembering all of those. Maybe your first kiss was a really long time ago, but… what about your first kiss on Valentine’s Day this year? What’s that going to be like? I hope it’s special and I hope you’ll think of it as a different sort of first. And while you’re at it, why not relive all those firsts all over again? They don’t have to be perfect, because I don’t think a “first” anything is perfect, but they’re fun. Firsts are memorable and special.

And… the really nice thing about Valentine’s Day is that you can spend it with someone. Or… you don’t have to.

I admit that it can be a lot of fun if you have plans. Wake up early and get that first kiss of the day in. Depending on how frisky you and your partner are feeling, maybe you want to get a couple of other sexy firsts out of the way, too, haha. (Maybe a couple times? I won’t judge. There’s a whole lot of time between waking up, brushing your teeth, taking a shower, and having breakfast, so if you need something to occupy yourselves, well…). Valentine’s Day is on a Friday this year, so unfortunately that means a lot of people have to work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t continue your fun. Maybe a sexy email or text message here and there? Anticipation! That can be a ton of fun. Do you remember the first time you were really excited–I mean, really excited–for what was to come later?

Maybe you’ve got plans to go to a fancy dinner at a restaurant, or maybe you’d like to make a nice homemade dinner instead. Do you go to a movie, or watch one at home? What do you do at the movies? If your home, you’ve got a little more leeway, but if you’re out, there are definitely covert ways to have some playful fun while watching a movie. I’m not talking anything crazy here! A hand on a leg. Cuddling close. A light caress. You’ve got a lot of options. And after that, once you’re home (or if you’re already home), well… you’ve got a lot of options. You can do what you like, maybe you can relive some firsts, or you can have some more real firsts.

If you don’t have someone, I think that’s fine, too. Do you remember in grade school when everyone would make Valentine’s cards for everyone else? Give out candy, sometimes? Those cute little heart message candies? Or other candies. You could make your own easily enough, bake something nice, melt chocolate and buy some molds. Whatever you like!

If you don’t have someone, Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to have some fun by doing something you might not usually do. Do you want to grab the attention of a really attractive man at work? Or maybe you see him on your way to work every day? Maybe you don’t even have someone in mind, but you want to be prepared just in case you see someone you wouldn’t mind spending time with in the future (because you never know, you know?). You can, on Valentine’s Day, give him a Valentine’s card and some candy. I mean, you can give everyone a card and candy if you want, and maybe that helps it be a little more secretive. But, of course, you give the special man the special candy. Fill it up with “I love you” hearts! He won’t catch on, I swear. Everyone else gets the goofy candy hearts, but every single one he gets says “I love you,” and… maybe he’ll catch on and go further with it. You could be having a lunch break tryst in the copy room for all I know. I don’t know if I’d suggest that, but if you want to, Valentine’s Day sounds like a great time for it.

You could spend your day with friends, too. Go to special Valentine’s Day events, at a bar or a restaurant. I imagine there’s some fun one’s for singles, too, like speed dating or something. Actually, random side note, but I think that’d be really neat. What if you can go to a restaurant in your area as a single man or woman, and they’ll pair you with someone to have dinner with? If you like each other, you can exchange numbers, and if you don’t, then you can just eat and be on your way. That could be fun.

Anyways!

I hope everyone has a ton of fun this Valentine’s Day, no matter what you do. Remember what it was like for your first time, your first kiss, your first everything, and try to have those experiences again. Fall in love for the first time another time. Live and be happy and smile! A lot of new adult romance deals with difficulties and problems, but not everything is hard, you know? Love in general can be really difficult, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s just different and it’s special because of that. It’s memorable and beautiful.

Do you have any Valentine’s Day plans this year? I’d love to hear about them! Whatever you do, make sure to be happy and have a nice time.