10 ways to love your single self on Valentine's Day

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Love is all around us - and don't you just know it on Valentine's Day, but what if you're single? Why should you be bullied by the Relationship Police and their cheesy cards, overpriced roses and Bryan Adams records? It is possible to feel Significant, without having an Other; try our knockout tips for how to love yourself on 14 February

  1. Enjoy a special breakfast - prepare smoked salmon and scrambled eggs instead of the usual Rice Krispies (or, if time's a problem, take a salmon and cream cheese bagel to the office). The first meal sets the tone for the whole day - an exceptional day calls for an exceptional meal.

  2. Splurge on a session with a personal trainer: exercise is always good for the self-confidence as it releases all that wonderful serotonin into your system and a personal trainer can tailor a programme specific to your individual fitness needs.

  3. Reinvent yourself at the hairdressers. Try a new style: a change is as good as a rest, they say, but it's also as good as a large injection of self-assurance, even just a cut and blow-dry will boost your self confidence and leave you feeling great. Looking like a new person will help you feel like a new person.

  4. Indulge yourself with a treatment at a spa. It doesn't have to be a major, all-day session; just a quick foot massage, or a basic manicure. It's the fact you're being pampered that counts, not the extent of that pampering. You'll feel like a million dollars without having to spend it.

  5. Go somewhere an ex-boyfriend always refused to go (for example, the ballet, a club, a restaurant or cultural activity ). Relish the fact that your freedom allows you to do it.

  6. Book a table for one in a local restaurant and then watch all the couples sitting with nothing to say to each other. It might go against the grain to sit alone, but achieving it will be a powerful statement (to yourself as much as anyone else). Remind yourself that you're an independent woman who feels confident in herself. A tip for making it easier is to take a book or magazine to read. Also, choose the right sort of restaurant; too formal won't be appropriate; somewhere low-key like Pizza Express is good.

  7. Volunteer to help a local charity. Doing something worthwhile with your time will make you feel worthwhile about yourself. (Don't feel guilty that this sounds selfish - it's a widely acknowledged fact that charity work often helps the person giving the aid as well as the one receiving it.) Volunteering will soon put into perspective a holiday that emphasises corny greeting cards and overpriced restaurant meals and flowers.

  8. See a film at the cinema in the afternoon. The matinee showing will be quiet, so you'll be able to stretch out and enjoy a whole 'couples' seat to yourself. There's something undeniably cosy about cinemas - the warmth, the darkness? Go on, spoil yourself.

  9. Do something for the first time. Ballroom dancing, parachute jumping or making your own pasta - anything, as long as you've never done it before. Self-worth is like fitness: the more you stretch yourself, the better you feel.

  10. Instead of a Valentine's card, post yourself a card listing three ways you must show your love of Yours Truly by this time next year (eg a weekend away somewhere, or a course of evening classes).

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