[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and with all the hype that usually comes with it, you’re probably beginning to wonder whether you’ll receive a Valentine’s Day card, flowers or chocolates. Even although you try not to get sucked in by it, you are surrounded by reminders: the shops are overflowing with red hearts, bunches of roses, chocolates and cards. The radio and the television are constantly poking your consciousness with reminders. Restaurants are advertising special Valentine dinners and jewellery stores are luring shoppers in to buy that perfect symbol of love. Everywhere you look there are constant reminders.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Despite your best efforts, perhaps you’re wondering whether you have a secret admirer and how exciting it would be to receive a surprise token of love and admiration. Let’s be honest, our deepest fantasies of romantic love are readily fuelled by days like St Valentine’s Day.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]But there’s another side to Valentine’s Day that is far more sobering, stark and stifling. Valentine’s Day is the perfect breeding ground for self-criticism. I can remember being in high school and hating Valentine’s Day. Going to school wondering if I’d get a Valentine’s Day message or card. (It was a day for fundraising at school so you could buy a card or flower and have it delivered to someone you liked at school). In the five years I spent in high school I probably received one. Not a very encouraging measure of my desirability or worth as a romantic love. In fact it made me feel awfully inadequate.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]When I was older, it didn’t improve much. If you weren’t in a relationship, well Valentine’s Day was even more painful. It was sort of proof that you weren’t shaping up in the romantic arena of life. Even if you were in a relationship, if your partner didn’t adequately show their love on Valentine’s Day, you again felt unworthy. So basically Valentine’s Day was just a day to feel bad about yourself.[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”https://happinessofpursuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Hearts.jpg” image_width=”200″ image_height=”200″ crop=”false” svg=”false” lightbox=”false” group=”_general” frame_style=”simple” target=”_self” caption_location=”inside-image” align=”right” margin_bottom=”10″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Of course, what I am writing here is my own opinion and you may not agree with anything I’m saying. But I am writing this in the hope of easing maybe one person’s self- criticism on Valentine’s Day.
This is My Valentine to You:
Valentine’s Day is Not a Measure of Your Worth.
Yes, I probably don’t even know you, so your inner critic is shouting, “how can she say that, she hasn’t even met you!”
I don’t have to meet you to know.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Let me ask you this:
Why do we feel all warm and fuzzy when we see a clumsy puppy, a furry wide-eyed kitten, a fluffy little chick or a tiny little baby? What have they done to deserve this reaction from us?
We don’t expect them to be beautiful models, high achievers, rich and famous, able to sit and stay at the age of six weeks or lay an egg immediately. We have no expectations. Absolutely nothing. They are living, breathing miracles of life. We feel warm and fuzzy just because they exist.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”35″]That is why I say Valentine’s Day is not a Measure of Your Worth. The fact that you exist is what makes you worthy. You are a breathing, living miracle of life and that makes you precious. Love yourself this Valentine’s Day, even if you don’t get flowers, chocolates or cards. None of these things can take action or make a difference in the world. You can and you do. Make someone smile, share a hug, a laugh, talk to a stranger. Take action to celebrate being alive. Now that is a measure of your worth.[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”https://happinessofpursuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/heart-in-hands.jpg” image_width=”1248″ image_height=”631″ crop=”true” svg=”false” lightbox=”false” group=”_general” frame_style=”simple” target=”_self” caption_location=”inside-image” align=”center” margin_bottom=”10″][mk_image src=”https://happinessofpursuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Screen-Shot-2015-01-29-at-5.21.46-pm.png” image_width=”150″ image_height=”150″ crop=”true” svg=”false” lightbox=”false” group=”_general” frame_style=”simple” target=”_self” caption_location=”inside-image” align=”center” margin_bottom=”10″][/vc_column][/vc_row]