Will you be your Valentine?

It’s that time. The time of year for manufactured romance and obligation chocolates. Some of us love it, some of us hate it. Personally, as much as I hate to say it, I love a reason to be loving. We shouldn’t need a reason, but it can be fun to romanticize the ritual of it. To think about the people I love the most, how I want to show them that I love them and see them. My attention centers around my spouse and my children. However, there are so many people that could be important. That could stand to feel a little love. You surely are one.

If you roll your eyes at the idea of a commercial Valentine’s Day, all the couples and reservations and pink, cellophane wrapped boxes of chocolates, you don’t have to decide that the holiday just isn’t for you. You don’t need a Galentine’s day to show that it doesn’t matter to you one little bit. Instead, chose yourself as the person you love the most. Look inside, know yourself, see yourself. Give yourself the same love and attention that the holiday is trying to call outward.

What would it look like for you to take a day to fully love yourself?

Really think about this.

What do you love?

What would make you feel loved?

What would you dream of as the ideal Valentine if it wasn’t just so dumb, anyway?

Close your eyes and actually picture it. Someone is coming toward you with a gift. You’re so giddy with anticipation that you can barely stand it. You know that it’s going to be just the right thing to make you feel so special and seen. The person coming is you. The person coming knows your truest heart.

We aren’t waiting around for a Valentine to bring love on Valentine’s Day. Treat yourself how you want to be treated. How you treat others. No guilt, not hesitation, just pure love.

What is stopping you? Every piece of this lovey dovey holiday can be turned inward as a righteous act of self love. Who should you love more than you?! Appreciate yourself, what you bring to the world, what it means to be alive in this place, at this time.

Embracing joy, embracing yourself, these things are radical. There are ways to break away from the consumerism soaked trappings of Valentine’s Day. One of the simplest and most revolutionary is to turn the love inward. To choose yourself as your Valentine and really, really mean it.