Let’s face it: Valentine’s Day might actually be the worst.

Even if you aren’t single on the holiday that celebrates love and relationships, Valentine’s Day is just a chance for companies to take advantage of you and your partner.

All the gifts, flowers, candies and expensive meals add up. At the end of it all, you’re often left feeling the holiday didn’t live up to your high expectations.

Valentine’s Day occurs every Feb. 14 and around the world these gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine, but why do we celebrate only one day a year?

This holiday has expanded to expressions of affection among relatives and friends, which many of us, learn about as early as preschool.

When you’ve grown up with the perception that spending money shows love and appreciation for someone, how does one truly understand the definition of love?

Ask yourself is it the idea of love or are you in love with the idea that you think it’s love.

As technology progresses and currency evolves into strictly plastic. We continue to believe spending means enjoyment.

The effort someone puts into a gift should be more important than the price. The fact that we live in a society that promotes a single day rather than every day is toxic.

Who can you blame, though? Besides big name corporations that constantly feed lies to us, there should be accountability on the ones who see love as only dollar signs.

Put your phone down and conversate with expressions and eye contact so you can really get to know your partner better. Get creative with date night.

For example, not every date needs to be spent on a high amount of money. Sometimes simple with a budget has a bigger impact than being blinded by greed and ignorance.

The amount of time and effort you put into creating that “perfect” day could be focused on showing that same effort during each high and all the lows a relationship or a friendship can have.

There are lots of high expectations around Valentine’s Day for couples, from the perfect gifts and the fanciest dinner to the notion of everlasting love.

“Sometimes I think it’s easy to fall into the trap and see all the flowers, gifts and all the things that they sell in stores but truthfully I don’t really think you have to spend a lot of money to have a good Valentines Day,” Maryellen Torres, a former SJCC Times reporter said.

Thinking about Valentine’s Day as this special day reserved for showing love can also take away from daily practices of love and appreciation.

“I think that it should just come from the heart,” Torres said.

So the next time this holiday comes around, really think about how this one day can affect you, specifically being the way you look at your own relationship.

If you truly love that person, every day should be dedicated to showing your devotion to them, not just one single day of every year. Don’t give in to false expectations.