Use Valentine’s Day as a Day of Kindness Towards Yourself
In general, Valentine’s Day tends to be a holiday that is viewed as lonely and sad if you’re not in a relationship. By the title of this post, you can likely guess that that doesn’t have to be the case.
In the cheesiest way possible, Valentine’s Day is all about love. So why not make that self-love? It can be beneficial to think about self-love as an umbrella term, encompassing all these other generous actions you can take towards yourself: self-compassion, self-kindness, self-care… So, here are some ways to take traditional Valentine’s Day activities with a partner and turn them into a day for & with yourself.
Typical Relationship Activity: Going on a date
Activity for You! Take yourself on a date!
Think about what would fuel you, and go do that! Whether it means you take a nice, long hike by yourself and sit at the top of the mountain enjoying the view, or something totally different like going out to your favorite burger place on your own and ordering whatever you’d like, the only thing this activity requires is treating yourself like you’d want a friend or partner to treat you: with kindness and care and on a holiday like this, with just a little bit of indulgence :)
Typical Relationship Activity: Exchanging Valentine’s Day cards
Activity for You!
The first option for this is to simply write a Valentine’s Day card to someone you love, whether it be a friend, family member, or someone else in your life that you appreciate. Often, the things that bring us the most joy are the things we do for others - especially when it comes to showing our gratitude and love.
If this isn’t something you quite feel like doing, try writing a letter to yourself that you can open next year on Valentine’s Day. Fill it with whatever kinds of sentiments you’d like, although it might fit the “spirit” of the day best to write it as a letter of love, hope, and wishes to your future self!
Typical Relationship Activity: Buying cheesy or sweet gifts for each other
Activity for You! This one’s easy: buy yourself a gift.
Indulge a little, just like you can with taking yourself out on a date. And of course, you can always buy someone else a gift, too. Those candy hearts are always fun to share and read aloud, no matter who it’s with.
Typical Relationship Activity: Asking them to be your Valentine (or getting asked to be their Valentine)
Activity for You! Order yourself a bouquet of flowers to your house!
It doesn’t have to be red roses. Buy yourself that giant white teddy bear holding a stuffed heart in its hands. Do the cheesy, fun things that you might want to laugh about if someone else was buying them for you. Enjoy the silly, corny parts of Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day can be a day for you, instead of a day for celebrating a relationship (even if you’re in one - try to combine the two!). It’s just as much about love for yourself as it is about love for someone else.
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