Is Your Single Status on V-Day Making You Feel Like a Loser?

It is not surprising that Valentine’s Day brings in millions of dollars each year in the sale of heart-shaped chocolate boxes, cards and jewelry. Some couples even gift each other with electronics—the latest cell phone or iPad.

Growing up, my parents always boycotted Valentine’s Day. I never understood why, until now. They said things like, “Give me my flowers while I’m alive. Don’t wait until I’m gone to tell me you love me or treat me with respect.”

So now I’ll ask you to play along with me for a second. Ready? Take off your veil of commercialism and open your mind to receive a message you may not like. Do you love your Self, (it’s capitalized for a reason)--your true Self, who you really are?  Yes? Good. Do you need to receive a gift or to be taken out to dinner on Valentine’s Day to feel loved? If you love your Self enough, isn’t that enough for you to feel fulfilled and eliminate the expectation or pressure from an outside source to provide you with anything to feel validated?

So what, you are single! Does a holiday that professes to be about LOVE make you feel like a loser? Again, the love of Self should be enough to make you feel like a winner. No? Okay. I’m not here to convince you. I’m not here to tell you to stop celebrating love. 

Love is an awesome verb. It means different things to different people. To me it means actions that show all of the people in your life that you care. You care enough to BE THERE for them, to LISTEN to their concerns, their fears, their stressors.  If you see each other struggling and cannot help, at the very least you will try to UNDERSTAND and be COMPASSIONATE and EMPATHETIC without JUDGING or CONDEMNING their feelings. Love does not mean you will agree with every path they choose to take; however, to me, it means you will COMMUNICATE to them that you will strive to TRY to understand and if there’s anything they feel you can help with, that they will not hesitate to ASK.

That said, LOVE everyone. Love your family, love your pets, love the planet, love a power higher than you, love your ability to love and most of all, LOVE your Self.

Never let a holiday make you feel like a loser. Only you can do that.