Valentine’s Day — the Hallmark holiday when high-calorie truffles and cheap teddy bears are objects of affection.

For most of us it’s just another pointless and over-emphasized day where you have to shell out twenty bucks for your sweetheart.

But if the closest thing you’ve had to a romantic Valentine’s Day is when you received a perforated cut out of a Transformer saying “You’re my Optimus Prime Valentine” in the fourth grade — you’re not alone.

It’s the only day where your love life is on presentation. If you’re with the love of your life you bask in it. If you aren’t, you cringe.

It’s a high pressure situation for guys who have to provide some sort of unique and romantic display to impress all of her friends while satisfying her expectations: expectations set too high by Kay Jewelers commercials.

For the ladies, it’s a waiting game to see whether or not the guy they are vying for is going to pull some secret admirer surprise, which never happens.

Instead it’s faking a smile when your roommate is in tears of joy from some sappy card.

Although the tendency when single on Valentine’s Day is to be bitter, there are exceptions. Just because you’re not getting wooed doesn’t mean you have to wallow in your own self-pity.

Plenty of people influence your life every day. Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to tell those people what they mean to you, even if it’s dropping them a line in an e-mail.

For those in a relationship or about to start one — it’s an opportunity to kickstart a relationship. If things have been on the rocks, it’s a chance to rekindle the flame.

Instead of playing into the typical, think outside the box. Song lyrics or a handwritten note is more genuine than a greeting card that plays some cheesy Elvis song when you open it. And no amount of material objects measure up to the power of words.

Ditching the cliches set as precedent by this stupid cupid guy is always the best move. The holiday is unique to each relationship. Aiming your Valentine gesture specific to your relationship is key.

Somewhere between the tacky, cheap and gaudy cliches is the simple idea behind Valentine’s Day — showing that you appreciate someone. In the end, that’s all that really matters.