Sajila Nudrat | Health Editor
Featured Image: It’s important to view the romantic images of Valentine’s Day in proper perspective. | Courtesy of Pexels
The history behind Valentine’s Day may not be clear, but it’s message always was—love. It is a day dedicated to showering a loved one with flowers, heart-shaped candies, and chocolates, to show them they really matter.
Whatever its origins and purpose may have been, recently, it seems to have lost it’s sweetness. Valentine’s Day has become extremely commercialized and superficial. An obligation rather than a treat. Instead of a day celebrating something good, it’s become a glorified chore; an expectation of grand love-affirming gestures.
The need to procure the shiniest diamond or to acquire a reservation at the highest-rated restaurant has led to an increase in consumer demand, and a decrease in healthy relationships. Planning the perfect day to proclaim faith and affection to a particular person has become so stressful, people have a hard time coming down from it.
It’s time for people to take back the commercialized Valentine’s Day, and spend their energy on something a little more worthwhile—love itself; not only on others, but themselves as well. The seemingly obvious reasons that may lead to higher levels of stress on the aforementioned day include unrealistic expectations of love, a desire to find the ‘perfect gift,’ and pressure to perform a spectacular display of affection. However, there’s more than meets the eye, and some reasons for elevated levels of stress are less obvious than others.
For starters, people need to recognize and understand that the pop-culture portrayals of romance are distorted and idealistic. There’s no specific way a relationship should be. Some relationships look to be greater than they actually are. It shouldn’t matter what kind of ring a person wears, or how they appear to radiate warmth in the most expensive of restaurants. What matters are the feelings two people have for one another, and the respect and admiration that follows.
If Valentine’s Day leaves a person feeling genuine concern that their relationship is not living up to expectations, it may have more to do with the actual relationship than the day. Twenty-four hours on February 14 is not enough time to patch up issues stemming from a lacklustre relationship. If a person feels good about a relationship, they don’t need to spend an excess amount of money on a specific day to showcase that.
For some people, the day isn’t even all that important. An anonymous third-year sociology student believes: “When you’re in a relationship for a while, Valentine’s Day doesn’t really matter. It’s just one day and is that really significant? I definitely think it’s still relevant though, but I don’t think it’s stressful because no one really expects anything for Valentine’s Day as they would for their birthday for instance.”
Whatever the reason for celebration may be, one should always be good to themselves on Valentine’s Day. People who don’t have a significant other to share the day with, instead of engaging in self-inflicted torture by thinking about what isn’t, should make the best of the day and treat themselves.
It’s 2019; it’s time to stress less and spend more time indulging in self-love.
