Valentine’s Day is upon us, which for people in relationships is a great opportunity to dress up, go out on a nice date and flood Instagram with evidence of their love. Meanwhile, if you’re single, you’re probably dreading a day full of reminders of your less-than-ideal relationship status. However, if you’re sick of the whole “eat ice cream, watch ‘The Notebook,’ listen to Adele, start crying and text your ex” routine, here are some suggestions for less pathetic ways to survive Valentine’s Day:

 

Avoid Facebook

Everything you hate about Facebook is going to increase tenfold on Valentine’s Day: married high school friends flooding your newsfeed with their romantic plans, and obnoxious single friends posting oh-so-witty statuses about dating Ben and Jerry and celebrating “Single’s Awareness Day” (aka S.A.D., which may be the most appropriate acronym ever). Save yourself the headache and just avoid the website.

 

Call Family

Since you’re avoiding Facebook, use your saved time to call family! Valentine’s Day is about love after all, and seriously, when was the last time you spoke to your grandparents?

 

Celebrate other holidays

Take advantage of the fact that Valentine’s Day this year falls the same week as Mardi Gras and Chinese New Year. For example, if you party hard enough Tuesday night, you can just shut yourself in catching up on work on Valentine’s Day, so you don’t have to worry about avoiding all the happy couples.

 

Bug your friends

Don’t let couples have all the fun on Valentine’s Day! Numerous student organizations are doing serenades and candy gram delivery services on Valentine’s Day. Why not embarrass your best friend by having Mariachi or the Mendicants serenade them? Alternatively, you could take your BFF out on a romantic date to Ike’s or Fraiche, or be super old school and make Valentine’s cards to deliver to your friends!

 

Ask out your crush

If you do all of the above and still feel down about the fact that you’re single on Valentine’s Day, why not just ask out the object of your affections? The timing is about as romantic as you can get in college, and if it doesn’t work out–well, you can always go back to the old ice cream-and-Adele routine.