(Get this free printable here.)
Celebrating Galentine’s day today? Or sharing Valentine’s Day with someone you adore? Either way, I’m all about loving yourself first, and as we approach this commercial holiday- let it be about more than buying the right card and eating chocolate. See below for 5 ways to love on yourself, or forward to someone who could need an extra dose of happy this weekend!
1. Do you know Molly Mahar? If not, you need to. Call her a life coach, your internet bestie, or an adorable momma (she can be all 3), her gratifying posts about real life make me so happy. Read this one about release.
2. “But Valentine’s Day, to me, isn’t just about the significant other. It’s about taking time to reflect and appreciate all of the love in your life, even if it is hard to articulate.” Free People has an inspiring blog with great photography and they do a Monday quote every week that I always look forward to. This week they featured an entire post on love quotes. Brilliant. (photo cred to Free People blog)
3. Have some love to give? Need a reason to get out for some fresh air every morning? Want a permanent cuddle buddy that won’t snore or leave off the cap to the tooth paste? Go adopt a shelter animal to love on. It will be the best return on investment you will ever receive. And in general make you a better human. Go here to find your local shelter. (Photo creed to TOMFO)
4. Truth:
(Photo cred here.)
5. 50 Shades of Grey. And I’m not even sorry about it. Yes, I understand it has all of these bad undertones; it puts violence against women on a pedestal and glorifies male dominance. While I’m not down for any of that, I am down for a female writer having the freedom to write whatever she wants. Even if that is some leather-red room-money-and-fast-cars love story trilogy. I’ve read the books, and while the entertainment value is high, I personally liked the fact that the girl wasn’t chasing the guy for a change. Christian Grey is a decent, yet flawed human, and the tragic story of how he comes to love himself by loving someone else is really what is at the heart of 50 Shades. Call it what you want, but I’m ready to see if these characters can hold up on the big screen. Female erotica has been around forever, so I don’t see what the big deal is, personally. Back in the 1930s Anais Nin dared to be one of the first Western female writers. Take her advice, don’t be afraid of what art can “do” to you, instead value the freedom we have to create it, to dwell in it, to love it and let it love you, to write and paint and act, and as Anais said, “Don’t wait for it… Create a world, your world. Alone. Stand alone. Create. And then the love will come to you, then it comes to you. It was only when I wrote my first book that the world I wanted to live in opened up to me.’” And if 50 Shades is the world you want to live in, you go girl.
Happy almost weekend, Valentines! #watchusroam