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So I know today is Valentine’s Day and I also recognized that society has romanticized this prospect of being involved with someone, or of being in relationship and I think the holiday itself has just been narrowed down to: you have to be a couple to enjoy it. But as a kid I never thought of it that way. I always envisioned this as a day of love and endearment regardless of being ‘single’ versus being ‘taken’. And I didn’t really give a shit which I was in order to enjoy it until I got older… Until ‘the status quo’ said: be in a relationship on THIS DAY OR ELSE.
I was having a discussion with my coworker about this and she told me that there’s no use in limiting myself to something like that; no use in ANYONE limiting themselves to something like that. And if I enjoyed it in the past, despite being on my own and happy about it, why should I not feel free to do the same n o w? The answer is simple: Don’t. Instead of making this a day about forcibly finding someone ELSE to love, or pining for someone else’s validation just solely for the fact it’s marketed as such, why not make it a day about loving yourself? And I loved her idea. So yes, I may be at work and on a six hour shift but I will still make today about self-awareness and love.
… Why stop there, though? It is a hard practice, I admit.
So here’s my prompt to those reading:
“What few things do you enjoy about yourself? What’s something about you that you feel is unique to YOU and no one else?”
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Hey Falyn! Thanks for this reminder, as a kid valentines day was definitely about cards, feeling loved and thought about by my friends, and of course chocolate. These days it’s similar, because I’ve only ever not been single on Valentine’s day once and it wasn’t all that… haha! So now it’s a fun day for me and good excuse to eat sweet things! Haha
But I love your re-frame, I think in this day of social media we definitely have a tendency to get caught up in what everything “means” or symbolizes and valentines day seems to hold a lot of weight in that department!
So, to answer your questions…
I like that I am an empathetic person, I try really hard to be open-minded and I am very self-reflective, which I think lets me grow and change. My life experiences have moulded me into the person I am today, and most days I like that person a lot! I think as for what is unique to me… I think my interests and values come togteher to make me a unique person- I have a lot of different interests, and a different sense of humor, and my values are deeply rooted in questioning why things are and how I can make sense of it all… not sure if that is REALLY vague or not but that’s some of what makes me unique!!