Have you ever wondered how to bring love back to Valentine’s Day?
When I was a kid, I loved Valentine’s Day – the whimsical colours, the chalky-message candy hearts, the box filled with silly cards from all my classmates… but as an adult, I began to buy into Valentine’s Day pressure. Was I getting the right, most thoughtful gift from my sweetie? Did he have something special planned for dinner or flowers?
I really agonized about these things and they become expectations that lead to what expectations always lead to: disappointment. Every year therapists, psychics and astrologers hear from people who are on the brink of desolation because they are still pining for someone who left their life, or because they feel alone and unloved, or because their loved one isn’t meeting their expectations.
How did something that’s supposed to be fun get so dark? Ever since a certain famous card manufacturer started mass producing Valentine cards in 1913 in Kansas City, the world has had an arbitrary way to measure the presence and absence of love. And because comparison takes us away from what we HAVE, it’s given us a way to compare our lives to a story of what should be. The right ring, the right dinner, the right romantic setting, the right person. All that pressure adds up to disappointing bad dates, lonely nights, and worse. How do we stop this madness?
Here are Five Ways to bring LOVE back to Valentine’s day: