Valentine’s Day has always been an interesting concept to me. It is often portrayed as a day for couples to celebrate their love. Although I think it is wonderful for couples to have a day to celebrate their love, I believe that love can be celebrated as an individual as well. Valentine’s Day can be tough for single people because their social media feed is consumed with romantic posts of couples and it highlights the fact that they do not have a significant other. A large misconception that I see is that not having a significant other means you are not loved. However, I believe Valentine’s Day should be portrayed as a day to celebrate all types of love. Whether it be love for your significant other, a cute Galentines moment where you show love for your friends, or even love for YOURSELF.
Who is to say that you can not celebrate yourself on Valentine’s Day?
Self love has become a more prevalent topic of discussion recently and I think this type of love is equally deserving of celebration on this holiday. Take some time to reflect on how you have grown as an individual, the strength you hold as an individual, and all of the amazing qualities that make you… you! It would be amazing if we could remove the relationship status aspect of Valentine’s Day and treat it as a day where we all celebrate our love for one another and especially our love for ourselves.
It can sometimes be difficult to express gratitude or appreciation for oneself because we feel like we are being selfish or conceited. We should change this societal norm, especially on this holiday and make it more inclusive for everyone. You should be proud to show love to yourself and you should be excited for Valentine’s Day and use it as an opportunity to take time to care for yourself and recognize your value.
I know this is something I have been working on a lot throughout the past year, and I would love to see our society embrace self love as an adequate type of love to be celebrated on Valentine’s Day.