It has arrived again – that oft-dreamed-about and oft-dreaded holiday called Valentine’s Day.
The questions abound…
This day is fraught with so much overflowing emotion, expectation and disappointment. If you are in a relationship, the questions abound. Should we celebrate? How big of a deal should it be? Will he buy me something? Is it too soon to get her something?
If we are in a committed, long-term relationship, we may have our set way of celebrating this “holiday of love.” So this year, do we do the same thing again or do we change it up? Questions still remain.
And if we are the most dreaded of all statuses on Valentine’s Day – SINGLE – then what? We may be jealous that other people have someone special, we may be disappointed that we do not, or we may be suffering the aches and pains of love gone by.
All of this amounts to (in my opinion) one big, heavy burden.
Why celebrate Valentine’s Day at all?
This always bring me to the question – why celebrate Valentine’s Day at all? This day puts a tremendous burden on people to live up to an expectation or a tradition or to forge a new ritualized way of recognizing February 14. Did you know that the origin of Valentine’s Day is actually rather dark? Ancient Roman Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both of whom were named Valentine — on Feb. 14 in different years in the 3rd century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.
So this tradition of love was actually started because two men were executed? Hardly the warm fuzzy I was looking for!
Another thing I have thought about to decide if we should celebrate at all is, what are we supposed to do on other days of the year? Do we celebrate our love on Feb. 13 or Feb. 15 or do we just go on about our lives and not think about it again until Feb. 14 next year? This seems like a silly question, but I ask it to make a point.
What does it matter what day the calendar says it is? If you feel love in your heart – for your “Valentine” or anyone else, why not express it to that person? If you feel love on June 5 or August 16 or October 1 – just say it. I am quite certain the recipient of your loving message will appreciate it no matter what the date is.
Who should we really be celebrating?
This brings me to my final and perhaps most powerful question: who should we be celebrating anyway?
You know what my answer is?
?
?
?
We should be celebrating
…
…
…
OURSELVES!
Yes, you read that correctly. We should be celebrating ourselves. We are, after all, the only person we will spend every minute of every day of our entire lives with. We should be our own best friends. We should be married to ourselves and our highest evolution. For my children’s entire lives, I have told them that they must love themselves before they can fully love another.
Think about this for a minute: if we are dedicated to loving ourselves, what would our lives look like? If we chose careers that inspire us, friends who uplift us and lovers who fulfill us…what would our lives look like then?
Let’s face it – we are the only people who have the power to make us happy, to complete us or to fulfill us. No one else can truly do those things for us. It is up to us and us alone. And when we love and honor ourselves as the magnificent creations that we are, we are modeling a powerful way of living for our children, who will then grow up to love themselves the same way. And if we do this for a few generations, just think of what the world would look like…
So on this Valentine’s Day, let’s celebrate OURSELVES!
