Every year around this time, the stores fill up with bright displays of red, pink and white gifts. Lucious boxes of chocolates line the shelves, fragrant flowers are bundled into pretty arrangments and cute stuffed animals sit patiently waiting for their new home.
Valentines Day can be a great day for couples to share. Some people love to celebrate by baking delicious sweets, while others like to cuddle up with their sweetie to enjoy the day. Other people may hand out Valentines Day Cards to their friends to show them how special they are. This day is happy for some, but dreaded by others. I'd like to change that!
Whether you have a sweetie this Valentines Day or not, I feel like the most important gift you can give this Valentines Day, is to love yourself.
Unfortunately, it's not always easy to love yourself. I see many posts about people not being happy in their relationships or even one's where people feel down on themselves. So I wrote this My Take to hopefully offer some good advice to help people give love to themselves on Valentines Day!
Cherish your 'me' time
If you are alone on Valentines Day, try to make it as positive as possible. Try to remember that not all couples are happy. Anyone can buy flowers for their sweetie, or send a nice card. But it's much more important that you are happy with who you are and what you are doing in your life.
Sometimes being single is a good thing. It can lead you to discover new parts of yourself that you haven't known before. Maybe that means investing your time in learning a new skill or perhaps just taking some much needed time out of your busy schedule to relax.
Even if you are in a relationship, it's good to take time for yourself. Don't neglect to do the things you once enjoyed because you are now in a relationship. Keep up with your old hobbies and don't neglect to try some new things!
Whatever it is, cherish your 'me' time. This time helps you stay balanced and also minimizes stress! This can help improve your relationships by making you a better partner and friend!
You are the Author of your own story!
When you start learning to love yourself, you realize that you have the power to change your life. You start to do things that make you happy and walk away from things that make you unhappy in life.
Even small changes can help make a big impact. The biggest wins in history started with an idea, and the biggest movements started with a small change.
The good news about realizing you have the ability to change your life at any time is that YOU have the power to do so! If there is a course you have always wanted to do, sign up for it! Do you have a fitness goal you want to achieve? Find out what it takes to get started and start doing that. Eventually you will reach your goal!
The other good thing about being the author of your own life is that you no longer have to hold onto what other people think about you. What they think and feel about you shows more about them than it ever will about you! Take your power back and don't let their opinion of you define what you think of yourself!
Stop the negative self-talk!
This might just be one of the hardest things to do when you are begining to learn to love yourself. We all have that voice in our head which downplays our achievements, makes us doubt our worth, and even criticizes us at our lowest points.
Despite what that voice in our head thinks, most other people don't even realize or think the things that the little voice says. And if they do, then those people aren't worth knowing.
The best way to combat this little nasty voice is to start small. Every morning when you wake up and go to the bathroom and look in the mirror, say one positive compliment to yourself. Even if it's small, like "I love how curly my hair is in the morning" or "I made a really great goal in my hockey game last night". Complimenting yourself can help change your inner voice. You will start to notice when you are talking negatively and squash those thoughts before they take root in your mind.
Oftentimes our negative feelings about ourselves hurt our ability to foster healthy and happy friendships and relationships. How we feel about ourselves, reflects outwards. But it is something you can change. Ultimately once you have overcome the negative self-talk, it won't bother you as much when you are single or if you don't have a lot of friends. You will be happier in your own company because you are doing things that give you joy and make you feel fulfilled!
This Valentines Day I hope everyone can enjoy the day. It doesn't matter whether you have a partner, or whether you are single. You can give yourself the best gift of all, the gift of self-love! Take time to cherish the time you have a lone. Remember, couples can also be very unhappy. Sometimes being single is not so bad, because you can cuddle up with your pet, or even just own your own and watch a good movie. Practice positive self-talk and you will start to feel better about who you are as a person. Ultimately if you give the gift of self-love this Valentines day, you will be giving a gift that will last through your whole life! Not just one day a year.
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