The View From Here – Happy Love Day!

It’s Valentine’s Day!  A day of forced love and celebration.  Kidding.  Kinda.  It’s become this day that tells us with brilliant marketing campaigns what it means to feel loved.  We need chocolates and jewelry, and flowers and “stuff”.  Did you know that the average person spends $175 on Valentine’s Day? Yikes. Chocolate is number one.  Followed by flowers.   And then jewelry.   That’s a LOT of money for a made up day. That’s some expensive chocolate.  (smile)

I LOVE love.  I do.  And I love flowers and chocolates and cheesy Valentine’s Day gifts.  I love the IDEA of Valentine’s Day.  I don’t love the pressure it brings.  My MIND knows it’s a cheesy made up holiday, but my heart still wants cheesy. The only problem is my husband HATES it.  Because it’s a made up, commercialized day and he’s not wrong.  One year he made a comment about not getting a groundhog on Groundhog’s Day, and my Valentine’s bouquet that year came with a card that said “Now where’s my groundhog?” with a smiley face.  BEST gift ever.  Made me laugh so much.

How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?  Do you keep it simple?  Do you go all out?  Do you ignore it altogether?

Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate all those people in your life that you love.   Your kids, your friends, your co-workers, your furry friends and family members.   It’s a day to love yourself and remind yourself how amazing you are.  Treat yourself to some chocolates and flowers.  Do something just for you.  It’s an incredible feeling.

My daughter and I have plans tonight to watch cheesy movies, bake cookies and just spend time together which I look forward to.

If I’ve learned anything over the years is not to compare.  Do what makes YOU happy.  For yourself, for you as a couple.  Don’t get caught up in the social media feeds, or the pressure to do it all.  It can get so frustrating competing with what the world tells you to do to celebrate.  “Comparison is the thief of joy”.  I saw that somewhere.  And remembering that helps me everyday.

If you don’t love Valentine’s Day – ignore it.  If you do, celebrate it.  But do it for YOU and not because the world told you too.

Wishing you a very happy Valentine’s Day.

Carrie

cbuchanan@blackburnmedia.ca

Categorised in: Afternoons

This post was written by Carrie Buchanan