Oh, Valentine’s Day
Stephannie Bermudez, Boon Coach
Let’s start by addressing this first: Valentines Day has become an extremely commercial holiday where spending money on food (do I hear chocolate?) or other experiences has become the main channel to express love to others or even self-care towards ourselves.
If you ask me, every day should be an opportunity to give and receive love, but since most of us suffer from some case of FOMO, here are some tips and anecdotes to empower you on the day that cupids arrow fired from his bow:
Tip 1: Before we dive into how to celebrate the day, take a moment to reflect about how the holiday makes you feel. Has this holiday become important to you? If so, why? Find some time to journal (this can be on your phone!) and see if that changes the course of your festivities. If journaling isn’t your thing, taking a walk or moving your body can be another way to process.
Tip 2: If you have made it here and you still want to commemorate, great! See how you want to spend the day. Do you desire company or prefer spending the day alone? This can be an opportunity to build community or get to meet someone new (think: a coworker, neighbor, a fellow dog parent from the dog park…)
Tip 3: You have either come to this conclusion or by no choice of your own, you are celebrating Valentines day alone. Wonderful! Here are some ideas for how to spend your day:
Practice a self-care ritual that makes you feel best. This could look like spending time outdoors, taking a fitness class or moving your body in any way it feels good, picking up on an interest you have meant to start since the new year started like drawing, painting, reading, or listening to a podcast.
This could also be a time to be curious and try something different like cooking your own valentines day meals and treats. You get to create or re-create your favorite dish to your own liking!
Volunteer! You can be of service to your local community by giving your time/energy into someone you are passionate about.
Disconnect from social media and find an activity that makes you feel present. Perhaps watching your favorite movie(s)?
Story from a Coach:
This year, I was determined to take Valentines Day into my own hands and proactively thought about how I wanted to spend the day. After taking with some friends, and seeing we were all pretty aligned, we decided to have a Galentines Wine Down Wednesday - what does this mean, some of you may be asking? and why?
Well… it was just us ladies, so we changed the name from Valentines to Galentines, then we decided we all wanted to have some sort of self-care, so we locked down yoga as that. Lastly, we didn’t want to stick to the 14th, so we scheduled our date for a Wednesday, because why not? We are setting the rules after all. We had an incredible Galentines WDW last week, we all brought different types of food, drinks, mocktails and practiced yoga followed by some intention setting to keep us focused for the next few months. In retrospect, this Valentines Day turned out to be a success. I think it’s because we focused on what we wanted, and not what the rest of the world expected us to do.
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