Valentine’s Day has just passed and for many people love is in the air. For others it was just another day. Some people really dislike the holiday claiming it is too commercial. I happen to like Valentine’s Day. Yes, it is too commercial, but so are most of our holidays. Thanksgiving tops the list for me. Instead of enjoying quality time with our loved ones and focusing on what we are thankful for many of us are shoveling in tremendous amounts of food and cutting the day short to get to bed so we can wake up at 2 am to get in line for an early bird special on Black Friday. Despite the commercialism of Valentine’s Day I like the concept behind it. Why not take a day to show some love? We may say I love you but really, how often do we SHOW others that we love them? We are busy working, taking care of our families, and pursuing our interests and often don’t have time or make time to do something special.
Most emphasis for Valentine’s Day is put on Romantic love. That is not the only type of love that I am talking about. I am all for showing your significant other how you feel. But there are other loving relationships that are just as important and over looked just as often. I’m talking about love between a parent and child, between friends, between siblings and other family and even love for yourself. That’s right, you are special too and should show yourself some love as well. To be clear, when I say show love, I am not talking about going out and buying someone a gift although that is fine if that is what’s in your heart (I love both giving and receiving gifts :-0 ) I’m simply talking about doing something nice for someone else or even yourself.
All this is to say that the intent behind Valentine’s Day is beautiful. However, the spirit is lost due to commercialization and the focus on only romantic love, turning what should be a pleasant day into something negative for those fed up with the commercialization, not in relationship, or who may have recently lost their significant other. So let’s broaden our focus a bit. We all have someone to love (friends, family, and even pets). And don’t forget to love yourself. That’s what my quest for Joy is really all about. Loving myself enough to look for happiness and realizing that a happier me puts me in a better place to Love others.
I Love you all.
P.S. God Loves You Too.
My entire family has always been of the opinion that you SHOW people you LOVE them all year long – and on special days like Valentine's Day you don't have to spend a ton of money or do anything fancy b/c the ones you love already KNOW it b/c not only have TOLD them but you've SHOWN them all year long.
I had a very nice V Day with my family and saw first hand the generousity of a pre-teen kid who hid all his money inside cards to his Mother and Grandparents as a thank you for all they do for him. His mother and grandparents were stunned and i saw real heartfelt emotions on their faces as they convinced the kid to take the money back with lots of smiles and warm hugs!
It was a great reminder of what love is all about and how holidays (any kind of holiday will work) can bring out the best in all of us 🙂
Shanita I love what you have to say. It sounds like you had a great Valentine's Day. I may copy some of your ideas next year.
That's the mindset that I was in on Valentine's day myself. It's a day to celebrate love. I didn't want to feel like I couldn't participate just because I'm not in a relationship.I think when we're single, we have the idea that Valetine's day is not for us for some reason.
Saturday night my friend and I cooked a seafood feast and we attempted to make a cake.We laughed,acted silly and had a good old time.We talked about the fact that there was no guy that we wanted to spend the day with but we should still celebrate the day. I scheduled my massage for Valentine's day and when I came home the plumber was there to fix my faucet. I was happy!!! my back felt better and my faucet was fixed. It was a damn fine Valentines day if you ask me.