Think Outside the Norm — Valentine’s Day
“Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised & today is short.”
If you know me well, you know that I am kind of a sap. I am an innately emotional person. I can cry during a horror movie, as long as someone’s heart was broken. However, I am not really an affectionate person. I have been trying to figure out how to make that distinction for a while. I am not comfortable hugging random people or telling people that I love them. I would rather do pretty much anything else.
One thing that may be unexpected about me is that I LOVE Valentine’s Day. And here’s why:
Most people hate Valentine’s Day and say that it’s a “Hallmark holiday” just made for ripping us off. Valid. However, how many of these people actually celebrate their people every day? Having a day for it is something I can totally get behind, because, ultimately, we do not celebrate our people enough. Life, work, and distractions all get in the way, and I find incredible value in telling the people close to me how I feel about them.
Valentine’s Day is that one day a year that I get to be a total sap and blame it on a holiday. I have learned, very quickly, in 25 years that life is extremely short and it is imperative to let people know how you feel about them. You’ve probably heard that a hundred times and it sounds like a cliche. And it is. But, when you receive a phone call at the age 23 from a friend telling you that the friend you had been trying to get ahold of for the last week had actually passed away, you think back to that last interaction. Did I tell her I loved her? Did I let her know that she impacted my life for the better?
I tell my grandfather that I love him each and every time he calls me. I don’t expect anything by telling him this, I just want to let him know. I tell my best friend how important she is to me regularly and she is one of the only people I make sure to hug and hug with purpose when I see her. It is important for me to be able to tell people how I feel without the expectation that they have the same feeling. Love is selfless. Love is showing someone that you care, while expecting nothing in return.
Every year on Valentine’s Day, I do something nice for my friends and family members to let them know that I am thinking about them and that I care. Sometimes, those little reminders are what someone needs to get through their day. I have had weeks, months, and years where I was convinced that no one would care if I just disappeared. Valentine’s Day has consistently been a day where I am reminded, by the love that comes back my way, that I am cared about.
For people like me, it takes days like this — this dumb “Hallmark holiday” — to realize that there are people who love me. Valentine’s day is a day that gives me permission to indulge my emotions and express my feelings. And in return, I am reminded that I am enough as I am.
