Valentine’s Day can bring up a variety of feelings every year. Some people may dread the day because they don’t have anyone to spend the day with while others may enjoy the day with a partner. Still others may have hard feelings such as grief of lost love or loved ones and others may enjoy the day with their best friends. It is normal to have mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day as not everyone has a life like those pictured in popular romantic comedies. If you find yourself spending Valentine’s Day alone or just want to pamper yourself here are 5 self-care activities for Valentine’s Day:
1. Make yourself a care package
Find a cute basket at your favorite store and fill it with all of your favorite things, your favorite snacks, your favorite candy, and some self-care items like face masks or essential oils. Maybe a cute stuffed animal or a cozy blanket. You can fill this basket with whatever you like and whatever makes you feel loved on Valentine’s Day.
2. Write yourself a love letter
You deserve to hear how great you are, especially from yourself. You can write this letter however it feels best to you. You can hype yourself up, make it funny, or you can write from your heart about all your best qualities. Here are some prompts to help you get started. You can start your letter by giving yourself a nickname like “Gorgeous,” “Beautiful,” “Queen,” etc. Then you could continue by finishing these sentences or coming up with your own: “I love how you…”, “I admire you for…”, “You are beautiful because…”, “Thank you for always…” When you’re finished writing your letter make sure you sign it from yourself to let yourself know how much you love YOU. When it’s signed and sealed you get to choose how you want to deliver it. Some ideas might be using your journal, giving the letter to a trusted friend to mail back to you at a random time during the year, or using a digital platform such as futureme.org which will email your letter back to you at a date you set ahead of time.
3. Spend time with your friends
Valentine’s day has traditionally been marketed towards romance but friendships deserve to celebrate as well. You can plan a cozy night in where you and your friends pamper each other with facemasks, order pizza, and watch a movie with all the best snacks.
4. Cook your favorite meal
What better night to enjoy your favorite meal than Valentine’s day. Cooking your favorite meal is a wonderful way to show yourself how much you are loved. Put on your favorite albums from your favorite artists and have a dance party while you make your favorite food that you can enjoy on the couch in your comfiest sweatpants and slippers.
5. Make a gratitude list
Research has shown that gratitude is a powerful way to increase happiness. Writing down just 5-10 things/people you are grateful for can help you feel more positive and loved. This exercise is great for Valentine’s Day when you might be feeling down about not being in a relationship or anything else that you’re going through. Seeing the things going well in your life written down can boost your mood.
Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you show yourself some love this week and every week!