Be your own Valentine

Throughout the years the meaning of Valentines Day has changed dramatically for me. Growing up, you have an innocence about you that teaches you to love everyone on Valentines Day and I find it sad that as you grow that fades.

As a teenager I had the view that Valentines Day was all about romantic love, it was what media seemed to portray and as a youth the media shapes who you are and your beliefs. As great as a romantic connection can be there is also something incredibly toxic about viewing it in higher grace than other forms of love.

Going into adulthood I was introduced to the idea of "Galentines Day" and immediately fell in love with the idea of sharing the day with my female friends. It didn't take long for me to realize that even with this inclusion, there were so many people that still not making the cut.

In recent years I've seen more and more posts about loving yourself above other and I think this might be the most positive message I've seen in relationship to Valentines Day. Self-love, no matter the day is important.

I am a strong believer in putting yourself first. Many can see this as selfish but I have seen first hand the effects of people always putting others before themselves and it is a beautiful thing to see but it isn't sustainable. If you are to truly help others, and be able to continue doing so, you need to first be able to take care of yourself. Otherwise you will burn yourself out or worse. I won't get into the specifics on that statement as I'm sure most people know what self neglect looks like and it is not the focus to this post.

This year I feel like I have been thrown back into the days of my childhood because for the first time in a long time I want to extend my Valentine's wishes to everyone, whether they be friends, family, or complete strangers. Everyone deserves love and I do truly believe that there is no limit on how much love you can give. 

With the stresses of covid I am putting a lot of emphasis on spreading love to all of my friends and family that I haven't been able to spend time with this last year. It is sad that it has taken such a tragic event to remind me to love myself and those around me.

With this being said I hope everyone has a fantastic Valentines Day and spreads as much love as they can while also remembering to love themselves.

PS. I realized that I forgot to post a song with my last post so this post you will get two!