Why We Should Be Celebrating Self-Love on Valentine’s Day
I vividly remember my first heartbreak. I was sixteen years old, and my very first relationship came to an end shortly after the start of the school year. As Valentine’s Day rolled around, my mother spent the entire day making sure I felt loved. She bought me tons of gifts and was extra attentive. But honestly, I remember feeling a little guilty accepting all of her tokens of affection because I wasn’t as sad as she perceived me to be. From a young age, I didn’t see the value in spending a lot of time dwelling in sadness over being single. I loved who I was, and I valued the lessons I learned from that experience. But my question to all women is: why should ONE day make women feel so vulnerable if we are alone?
Simple: It shouldn’t!
Don’t get me wrong, I am a lover of love and celebrating the pure joy of happy couples. In fact, I am one half of a happy couple. And if I’m honest, I tear up at every single Valentine’s Day engagement and smile ear to ear seeing couples surprising one another. But some days I think: What if we have been doing it all wrong? We should be celebrating our love for our significant other every day of the year. Random acts of affection should be weekly, maybe even daily. What if this should be the ONE day we get to give ourselves all of the love we put out into the world?
What if this should be the ONE day we get to give ourselves all of the love we put out into the world?
Think about it. As women, we spend every single day of the year being a nurturer to others as mothers, aunts, genuinely amazing friends, and significant others. We overcompensate at work. We hold off buying our favorite designer bags from feeling guilt if we indulge a bit. We can’t help but use every Target run as an opportunity to bring at least one item home for our kids but debate over buying the $10 lipstick for ourselves. We owe it to ourselves to have ONE day of the year to be unapologetically indulgent.
What are the benefits of practicing more self-love?
There are SO many benefits to practicing self love. For one, it improves your mood and boosts your confidence. It also helps to reduce stress which will better prepare you to meet the needs of others. Lastly, it allows you to create healthy boundaries in relationships.
This Valentine’s Day I want to challenge women, single or in a relationship, to practice a little extra self-love. Because let’s face it, you DESERVE this. Take a page out of my book and try at least ONE of these self-love practices:
3 Ways to Celebrate Self-Love:
- Spend your morning writing down ten things you love about yourself and be specific. It could be something physically you love about yourself from your eyes or your perfect curly coils or effortlessly flawless beach waves. It could be the way you overcame a situation in the past year or even your amazing taste in music. If it’s something that makes you proud to be YOU, jot it down.
- Buy yourself one thing you’ve been putting off purchasing. I can guarantee you right now, somewhere in your phone lies a screenshot of a bag, or a dress, or a killer pair of shoes that you’ve wanted. It could be a vacation destination you’ve been waiting to book tickets for or even an Air BnB near a trail you’ve wanted to hike. If there’s something on your list you’ve wanted to buy for yourself, use Valentine’s Day as your reason to splurge. If you’re looking for some ideas to get you started, check out Comsopolitan’s list of gifts to buy yourself. It does not disappoint.
- Pamper yourself to the max. Start your day off searching for the prettiest bouquet. Spend the afternoon getting a mani and pedi and finish up the evening with a fancy dinner for one. Call up the best steakhouse in town, and order your favorite meal (Oh, and add the dessert you always skip out on, too.)
If I learned anything from sixteen year old me, it’s that you truly have to dig deep and always keep a full cup of self-love. It will make you a better significant other, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. So use this day to fuel yourself up so you can give Valentine’s Day quality love to those around you every single day of the year without burning yourself out.
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