Though many couples and singles do something special to mark the occasion, almost as many on both sides of the relationship aisle confess to loathing the sugary day of romance and the stress, depression, guilt and disappointment that bubble to the surface when it arrives, maddeningly, year after year.

Some feel icky about the sappy quality that characterizes Feb. 14. Plenty of Valentine’s Day scrooges despise what they say is the corny, forced sentimentalism of a contrived, overly commercialized holiday.

I really hate it...I think I always hated it, even when I had a boyfriend. I always felt that it was really hokey. I’m not a teddy bears and roses kind of person.”

It’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t...There are a lot of things that run across your mind that you’d like to do, but with busy schedules, you don’t always have the time. But when you don’t do them, you feel guilty.”

All the responsibility for Valentine’s Day falls on the guy...If the guy and the girl both agree to do nothing, and the guy doesn’t come up with at least a flower and the girl doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t hold the same value.

"It's often a time of breakups, because one person feels more than the other person and someone winds up disappointed..That winds up leading to discussions about where they are in the relationship, and then that just leads to a breakup.It's supposed to be a holiday of happiness and warmth but instead ends up being a holiday of stress and fear.

Though it's technically a celebration of all manifestations of love, Valentine's Day — named for St. Valentine, who, legend has it, wrote a passionate letter to the apple of his eye from prison, which he signed "From Your Valentine" — is more about the romantic kind than anything else.

It's not a real holiday: And by that I mean nobody gets the day off. We could all feel the heartwarming red a little more if it were a national holiday. There's pressure to be original: Whether you've just started dating or are repeat Valentines, the pressure to do something unique but not sappy aggravates even the most inventive romantics.

Yet, commercialism says to conform: We all know Valentine's Day was created by ad guys like Don Draper to sell cards and hearts and chocolates, so it's hard to get into the spirit of a day so contrived. It's expensive: Not only does it not come with the full sleeping-in privileges of a real holiday, but it dictates that you buy presents.

Yet, commercialism says to conform: We all know Valentine's Day was created by ad guys like Don Draper to sell cards and hearts and chocolates, so it's hard to get into the spirit of a day so contrived. It's expensive: Not only does it not come with the full sleeping-in privileges of a real holiday, but it dictates that you buy presents.