Love Yourself On Valentines Day

Is Valentines day a farce or fun? Every year we all get swept up with February Fever. Almost like clockwork, come mid January we start to see red roses, teddy bears and chocolates. There are chocolate boxes and bouquets of roses, that are almost twice the price, simply because it's valentines day. The quirky, the cute and the quaint, start to pop up in the majority of the high street stores. Billboards, bus advertisements and shop windows are overrun with all things red, heart shaped and whimsical. Each year Valentines day, Easter and Halloween seem to creep in that little bit sooner each year. As soon as one holiday is gone, we start to see advertisement and next seasons merchandise rolled onto the shop shelves. This is a bid for retailers to try and continue to make a profit and reach company set targets. According to globaldata.com UK consumers spent nearly £1 Billion on Valentines Day gifts alone last year. Leaving us wondering, what the hell we spend our money on? How could we as a nation fall victim to such a farce day. Quite simple, because it's FUN.

Why we're in love with Valentines day! It's because we all love, love! Valentines day may be cheesy and stomach turning, but for the majority of us, it can be a great excuse to lavish the world with love. Valentines day is my quilty pleasure, I haven't had the opportunity to celebrate many Valentines days. So each time I have one, I make a point of going overboard. I LOVE getting flowers, I love cheesy lovely dovey cards and most importantly, I love going out for a lovely Valentines day meal. People might think it's because I have someone to spend it with, but that wasn't always the case. I have always loved looking at cute cards, fun heart shaped novelties and reading cheesy love messages. They've always made me feel fuzzy and happy inside. But, most importantly, I have always loved looking after myself on Valentines day. Because the rest of the world was so loved up, I thought it was only right that I treated myself to some well deserved and needed TLC.

Red love heart on hearts

Where did Valentines day come from? Valentines day hasn't always been a sales driven consumer obsessed day. Valentines day is said to be a long standing tradition, that the Roman Empire celebrated in order to recognise the official start of spring. The Romans referred to this celebration a "Lupercalia" witch was a joyous festival, where many young couples would married. The name, "Valentines Day" is said to derive from the story told about a priest called St Valentine. Although Valentines day is essentially a day of love, it's name is said to be derived for a more tragic reason. During the rule of Emperor Claudius, St Valentines was said to have been imprisoned for helping young Christian couples marry. It was the law at the time, that soldiers were not to marry as it was a direct result of poor fighting, and produced bad soldiers. It is said that during St Valentines imprisonment he fell in love with one of the guards daughters. He would often right her love letters signed, " From your Valentine". Love yourself this Valentines day Every year I feel there's a potential sadness around Valentines day. If your single, or alone on Valentines day, be that because your partner is working, out of the country and for whatever reason,they can't be there with you. It can have the opposite effect and make you feel down and depressed. It doesn't help that our generation has an addiction to documenting and sharing everything on social media. Which you inevitable compare your evening to, which can make you feel lonely and envious. I like many other women, (although some of us don't like to admit it) let these stupid things affect our mood. So what I recommend we do, is Love ourselves this Valentines day. Instead of worrying about making the perfect dinner, or buying the perfect gift. Why not give yourself the perfect night? Be selfish, do what makes you feel happy and relaxed. Give yourself that much needed TLC. Do a face mask, hair mask and paint your toes. Buy a bottle of wine, and drink the full thing. Buy the Cookie Dough ice cream, Quavers and Dairy Milk. And last but not least, put on the shity, soppy, sucky love film that is completely unrealistic, but always makes you cry and has a happy ending. Every Year we all get so caught up in the madness that is Valentines day, that we forget it is essentially a made up day. That we have control of our mood and we have the power to change how we feel. We can choose to feel down and depressed, or we can treat the 14th of February like any other day. Or if your like me you can give in and embrace the ridiculousness that is Valentines day, simply because it makes you feel happy!