My Personal Confession:
I spent plenty of years with total apathy towards Valentines Day. As I look back on it, I realize now that this was because I really treated the holiday all about ME and scarcity.
I wasn’t the girl with a secret admirer, I rarely had a boyfriend in the picture, and I’m honestly not that much into mushy and cutesy anything. All I could see was how much I didn’t fit into this holiday.
After getting married you’d think that I’d change my tune and find delight in a loving husband who brings me home a dozen red roses… but then all I could think inside was
“What a waste! These are going to die in a week and it cost how much?!” Yes, I was a sorry ungrateful girl.
I have now thankfully learned to treasure simple luxuries (like flowers or food–things that don’t last but can still bring wonderful momentary joy). But best of all, I’m learning that this really awesome holiday isn’t about ME. Or scarcity.
Valentines Day is about others, and abundance.
Davina’s FREE ebook How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count the Days, was the triggering revelation that helped me to finally see this holiday for what it really can be. A celebration of the love that we have for other people. And that doesn’t always have to look like a significant other. It can also be found in focusing on our relationships with our children, our siblings, our parents, or our dearest friends.
By focusing on the abundance in our life, we begin to see just how rich we really are.
Already, this year is my favorite Valentines year of all.
It’s the first year that I have a child in school and I really wanted to create something for Buzzy that made the holiday something exciting from the giving perspective. We designed his own Valentines. I didn’t think far enough ahead to do a new photo shoot, but we found some fun photos from the past year that are still delightful and fun.
There’s still time to create your own.
Sites like minted.com and tinyprints.com have some great templates ready to go that just require your own drop in photo.
What do you do to make Valentines abundant?
Brooke Snow is the Professional Photographer for her own family and an Abundant Life Practitioner. She loves tree swings, the month of May, and early morning walks. She lives with her calm husband and adventurous son in Northern Utah. Join her FREE Photo Perspective Photography course for great instruction on easy ways to immediately improve your photos.
4 Responses
Brooke, this is a beautiful post about How Do I Love You? and Valentine’s Day. I’m so thrilled that this is your favorite Valentine’s year yet. You are incredible and your insights and writing always inspire me. Thank you for your wise observations and beautiful writing about things that matter.
Wonderful post. Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite days. I get to unabashedly shower my husband and 5 kids (20,18,16,10,& 8) with pink, hearts, mushy love notes, and extra hugs! I get to be over the top and none of them complain about it being silly or embarrassing ( I do love on them all year long but I get to REALLY go all out on this day). Since my oldest was a baby I’ve been hand making my Valentines for my children and husband. The night before, I set the table in pink, lay out their valentines and usually a little gift. Even now they are so excited in the morning to see what their cards look like! Then we usually have heart shaped waffles for breakfast and then later in the day well have a Valentine’s day themed teatime. This will be the first year my son won’t be home to participate in our teatime (he joins in for the treats!). I learned a long time ago that if I wanted the day to be about love then I needed to do something about it. Waiting around for anyone to give me the love I wanted wasn’t going to work. And by not focusing on what I wasn’t getting I’ve been blessed beyond measure. I have a husband that leaves me love notes all year long. I have children that tell me they love me and give me hugs…in front of their friends. That’s how we have an abundant Valentines Day!
You are so right, Laura! It is up to US to make Valentines special 🙂 I once read in a book several years ago that the way to have the best Birthday was to relieve all other people of responsibility and expectation. Pretty much, celebrate your birthday by doing all the things you love and making things happen the way that you want it. I LOVED THAT IDEA, because so much of my disappointment in the past had come from me holding other people responsible. I’ve had some of the best birthdays the past few years because I’ve done just that and it has been so fun to celebrate with other people the exact way that I want to. I think holidays–especially something like Valentines that can be filled with expectation and holding other people responsible to make it “great”, can be enjoyed so much more when we take the same approach 🙂
I once complained vocally about the amount of $ my husband had spent on flowers since they would just “die soon anyway.” Let’s just say I didn’t get flowers for a long time after that. 😉 I have had to learn to accept love in the ways others choose to offer, even when it’s not what I would have preferred. (Either that, or learn to speak up very clearly about what I DO want!) I had a great teaching moment long ago with a friend who had lost a child, and was sometimes offended by “comforting words” given by well-meaning folks who had no idea what she was going through, and she taught me about accepting what others had to offer. Thanks for your words!