Valentine’s Day Depression Cure

Okay, it isn’t exactly a little known fact that Valentine’s Day is a holiday for women. Well, married women and women with boyfriends or girlfriends. Except in Japan. Men get showered with gifts of chocolate! There is a separate holiday to give gifts to women. When I lived in Japan, woman complained they gave far more chocolate away than they received.

That still doesn’t solve the problems of being alone on what is supposed to be the most romantic day of the year. To temporarily alleviate this problem, consider indulging is a little chocolate.  Besides being an aphrodisiac, chocolate has many chemicals and endorphins that cause you to feel good . . . even when your life otherwise sucks.

So, throw a party, invite friends over to watch (and possibly make fun of) a corny romantic movie, build up your nerve to ask someone out on a date, go out on a “date” with a friend. But no matter what, include chocolate in your plans. Or any other comfort food that will make you feel good and conquer the Valentine's Day Depression. 

On Valentine's Day,  prior to this day, or even after this day, is a good time for creating a personal ad. It is my personal and unofficial observation that there is an increased presence and use in personal ads in January and February. 

If you are looking for a long term solution to this problem, consider reading post for that comes out later this month: Aptitude for Sexiness and next month's Manifesting Your Mojo. That way, next year you will have a date when the big V-Day rolls around.           

Where to look for love BEFORE Valentine’s Day

Many single people wait until February before they start looking for a date. And, of course, because they’re in such a desperate, crabby, why-doesn’t-anyone-love-me mood, they are unsuccessful in getting a date and instead binge on a bag full of chocolate. Not that Lady Chatterley has ever been one of these people.

So, how are you going to avoid this predicament? Start looking early!

Places to find love

Forget bars! If you want to find someone intelligent, classy, and who might share the same interests as you, try these alternative places.

Book clubs: Looking for nerd love? All you have to do is an internet search for “book clubs” in your local area. Barnes and Nobles has groups. For those in Portland, the book mecca of Powell’s Books has three different locations in the Portland area and their calendar is packed with authors, events and book groups. And if you are a guy and really want to go someplace filled with women, check out the Cheeky Pages romance book group. (Though they also have mystery, science fiction and other genres.)

http://www.powells.com/calendar.html

Romance Writers of America: There are over 30 local chapters. The Portland chapter, Rose City Romance Writers has a membership of over 100 people, mostly women. Those are pretty good odds for the guys. At least for guys who enjoy supporting romance writing.

Dancing: Women love men who can dance and what better place to go than someplace that teaches dance? And for the men, there are almost always more women at places that teach dance or host open dance so you are in high demand.

For a complete list of dance events going on in Portland go to Portland Dancing.

http://www.portlanddancing.com/

Meet Up: This group is a way to connect and meet other people with similar interests. For example, on the Meet Up website, there are categories such as arts and entertainment, sports and recreation, heath and support as well as many others. In Portland, there are tarot card groups, ASL practice groups, outdoors groups and others. To find people with similar interests in your city, check it out.

http://www.meetup.com/cities/us/or/portland/

Outdoors Clubs: If you enjoy the outdoors, organizations such as the Trails Club of Oregon, or Mazamas a Portland hiking, rock climbing, skiing club might be right for you. There also is the Willamette Sailing Club, and Bergreunde Mountain Friends, an outdoor, sports and social club.

http://www.trailsclub.org/

http://www.mazamas.org/

http://www.willamettesailingclub.com/

http://www.bergfreunde.org/ClubPortal/ClubStatic.cfm?clubID=513&pubmenuoptID=4900

Singles Clubs: Events and Adventures is a singles club for people in Oregon and SW Washington.

http://www.eventsandadventuresportland.com/

LoveTribe: A different way to connect with people: There is an organization called LoveTribe, all about bringing people together and helping them connect in nontraditional ways to create a feeling of community with parties like snuggle parties and game nights. Their events are edgy, not a dating service, and certainly not right for all people, but something different to try. LoveTribe started in Portland and has branched out to many other cities.

http://www.lovetribe.org/lovetribe/public/pages/home.cfm?CFID=24378371&CFTOKEN=34769637

Online dating: Let say you don’t read books, can’t dance, don’t like the outdoors, and have no hobbies, so none of those social clubs seem right to you. When you have tried everything else, or you don’t have any time (or money) to attend a social club, there is always the internet. Craigslist is free and always has local personal ads. I know two different middle school teachers who met their husbands through online personal ads, one with Eharmony and the other with Match.com. And neither woman is afraid to tell people that’s how she met her husband. Craigslist and Okcupid are free. As a result, there is also a higher rate of unemployed people without cars and cell phones. On the plus side, Okcupid is said to cater to a younger, nerdier crowd. Plenty of Fish and Christian Singles are other dating sites. And there are many more out there.