Find Your Valentine in Your Best Friend

Here we go again. Valentine's Day. A Hallmark holiday that seems like it was invented just to test relationships and make even the most loved people out there feel lonely. There are very few women who actually enjoy Valentine's Day. It's too much pressure, especially knowing that your news feed is about to be filled with pics of shiny jewelry and giant Teddy Bears awkwardly holding chocolates. What if you don't get your dream gift or haven't yet found your dream man? Well, this year we want every woman out there, no matter your relationship status, to reframe what Valentine's Day could and should mean.

We've always known that having girlfriends was a crucial part of living a balanced life, so much so we wrote a book on it. But lately we've really leaned into our female friendships and it's caused the love in our life to grow exponentially. No matter how many or how few lovers you have, nothing compares to the unconditional love and support of a best friend. With her, you can reveal the ugliest side of yourself (inside and out) and she will still love you. You can have a "fat day," a "bad hair day," a "PMS day," or an "off-day" and your best friend will be there to make you laugh and help you feel like the beautiful, capable, healthy woman that you actually are. And when you're at your wits end about your love life, it's usually your best girlfriends who talk you off the ledge and back into a healthy headspace.

Life is hard and love is messy, and we couldn't get through any of the drama in our love lives without the advice and humor from our best girlfriends. Let's face it -- men make us CRAZY sometimes. Some women are lucky enough to have stable, healthy romantic lives, but many of us find ourselves on a roller coaster of emotion throughout our relationships, and Valentine's Day acts as one of the loops that can easily throw us off. Throughout the heartaches and heartbreaks, it's usually your girlfriends who wipe your tears and give you the courage to get back out there and keep believing in love.

So this year, why don't we make Valentine's Day all about the girlfriends that keep us feeling safe, sane, sexy, and hopeful about love? If anyone deserves to be celebrated on Valentine's Day, it should be the people in your life who love you unconditionally, and no one does that like a best friend. If you're spending this year without a romantic Valentine, try to find your Valentine in your best friends. It's not too late to plan a hike, a brunch, or a girl's night in with pink champagne, pizza, and chocolate. At the very least, send this to your best friend and ask her to be your Valentine. We bet she'll say yes with all her heart.

Jodi Lipper and Cerina Vincent are the authors of: Girlfriends: The Hot Chicks* Mini-Guide to Celebrating Female Friendships

*Hot Chick (definition): A confident woman. She knows what she wants and gets it. She is aware of her flaws, but she doesn't obsess over them and instead thinks that maybe (just maybe) they actually add to her unique beauty. She is passionate. She loves life. She is comfortable in her own skin and owns her sexuality, but uses it purely for good. She does not see other women as her enemy and competes only with herself to do her best at all times and to be her best at all times. She is forthright, honest, disarmingly herself and tries to be no one else. She is having fun and she is sexy and you just want to be around her to soak up some of those good vibes. She isn't perfect, but she doesn't care because she is hot. And so are you.