Art tackles relationships

Valentine's Day puts a lot of pressure on people.

If you're in a relationship, you are expected to plan something, be romantic and shower your significant other with love.

If you're single, you feel sad and miserable for not having anyone to share the holiday with. 

I spend a lot of time thinking about relationships good and bad. When I'm not working as an Annenberg journalist grad student in LA, I run a blog called Single For a Reason where people share anonymous funny and terrible dating stories from around the world. 

In response to people feeling sad about not being "in a relationship" for Valentine's Day, my resounding reaction is: be thankful you are not in a relationship with a psychopath.

Being single is freeing and fabulous. You are tethered to nothing but yourself, your friends and your family. You get to experience life as an individual and not as an entity of expectations.

In honor of enjoying the humor in dating and relationships, I want to share a few story highlights from SFAR. If nothing else, these stories are helpful reminders why dating is not always as great as it's cracked up to be.

"Perks of Being Wallet Guy"

It was a lovely winter evening in Southern California and a group of us girls were out at one of the trendiest spots in Santa Monica. The beautiful people were out in full force. We stumbled into the game room (pool, checkers, backgammon) and challenged each other to a checkers match.

We had a few cocktails by this point, so failed to notice the abandoned wallet just next to the table until one of our friends asked us if it was ours. It wasn’t. We are not a shy bunch, so we dove right in…

- Tattered Louis Vuitton wallet

- Great license pic, 6'3, blue-eyed man, donor! Swoon. (Who looks better in their pic than in person, right? Wrong, we learned!)

- Potentially winning lotto tickets, check. (The guy has dreams!)

- $6 cash money

We were feeling bold and giddy, so we decided to leave our phone numbers (no names, just numbers and a few emoticons) before turning the wallet into the bar. To read the full story, click here.

"Breaking Up is Easier For Some"

My live-in boyfriend and I were having the relationship discussion to end all others. One year into our time together, we had hit the end. It was over. And reluctantly, we both accepted it. Crying into each other’s arms about how much we loved each other, but just couldn’t go on with the stress and the fighting and the pressure of our combined living situation and general relationship. We blew our noses, wiped the tears from our faces and laid there holding each other for a little while. It was nice and helped to bring closure to something that felt very painful for each of us. He excused himself to go out on the front porch and smoke a cigarette very upset. I got ready for bed and looked over at my phone, which was blinking with a text message…from him? To read the full story, click here.

"Flavor of The Day"

I met this guy at a party with mutual friends one holiday weekend and exchanged numbers after fun, flirtatious conversation and shared interests. He seemed like a really cool, international guy. After that night he would text me every few days or so always using sweet phraseology (eg. sweetheart, darling), which seemed sincere based on our conversations and his overall demeanor.

A few weeks later, he met up with a group of my friends one night and brought along a guy friend of his. From the way he greeted me he acted like we were an item, it was really cute. We all partied at that bar for awhile, then moved on to another and ended up as group on the balcony of an apartment partying in the moonlight. The whole time the guy was right next to me, holding me in his arms, dancing, the whole nine yards. Eventually the party broke up and I went with him to his apartment where we hooked up and then fell asleep in his bed.

I woke up in the morning to sunlight streaming through the crack of the door and the sound of him yelling on the phone to his dad in the middle east. His demeanor in the morning was 180% different- gruff, casual, strutting around his place. To read the full story, click here.

Regardless of where you are on February 14 or who you're with, feel happy knowing that you're awesome.  

To read SFAR click here.

Check out the blog's Facebook page to attend a Valentine's Day cocktail mixer in LA this week. 

Reach staff reporter Ashley Riegle by email. Follow her on Twitter here.