No sooner are the New Year’s fireworks cleaned up that local stores begin greeting people with pink aisles filled with candy, teddy bears and hearts. Valentine’s Day– a day to celebrate love and friendship –is a tradition that seems to be as old as time. However, every year it begins earlier and earlier. Many wonder if this is Cupid shooting his arrows or if it is all marketing aimed at vulnerable consumers in search of love or candy.

A day known as being filled with cheesy gifts and dates that would warm one’s heart, has become surrounded by a competition amongst significant others– competing on who got the better gift. It has become about the materialistic items, rather than the significant moments with one.

While giving gifts is a nice gesture, and as much as the recipient may enjoy feeling special, that is a temporary effect. Falling in love and staying in love requires a lot more than one annual Valentine’s Day. While some relationships may begin on Valentine’s Day for the novelty of the date, they won’t stay a couple unless they are compatible and share most, if not all, of the aforementioned factors, while putting work and effort into the relationship.

Showing admiration towards one another shouldn’t be seen on one selective date out of the year, but  should be celebrated 365 days a year. Yet, Cupid doesn’t have enough arrows for that. When it comes to love, do not rely on Cupid’s arrows. It’s not based on luck, nor on whether Cupid aimed for one when shooting his shot. When you find the right one for you, it will not matter what the date is because having someone to feel like your valentine year round is better than having it for one day.

In January 2017, Psychology Today published an online article written by Berit Brogaard, PhD, entitled “The Eleven Reasons We Fall in Love.” In it, Dr. Brogaard explains in detail the scientific reasoning for one’s love towards another– similarity, familiarity, desirable characteristics, and social influences. Noticeably missing from these reasons was a reference to chocolate or flowers.

Valentine’s day, not only being an excuse to splurge on the one you love, has also become a marketing tactic. One is bombarded with advertisements and heart shaped chocolate boxes to be filled with the idea that that is what love is. That depending on how big the flower array may be or how many stuffed animals one may get is the measurement of one’s admiration for the other.

Cupid might not run around with a sack of arrows seeking potential lovers, but one day the significant other that people have been awaiting will come to their surprise.