From a musician’s perspective, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Miley Cyrus’ new release, “Flowers.” It didn’t provide anything melodically or lyrically superior to her prior albums and singles.
However, it did offer an anthem of self-love, independence, and the value of being alone—messages that should be celebrated and remembered this Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day is notoriously associated with conceptions of affection and love confined to romantic relationships.
This idea is so irrefutable that those not in relationships—or even situation-ships—come to despise Feb. 14, not wanting to celebrate a day about endearment because they associate it with having a significant other. Feelings of loneliness or being unloved taint the day because of a misconception.
Truthfully, I think that’s ridiculous.
Valentine’s Day is about celebrating love in all its forms. Reality check: love doesn’t exist solely in the form of a relationship with a significant other.
For as long as I can remember, on Feb. 14, my sister, my mom, and I all received flowers, a card, and a tiny teddy bear from my dad. My dad did it to remind us we were cherished and loved by our family members on a day meant to celebrate affection.
Similarly, “Galentine’s Day”—a term coined to refer to women who spend Valentine’s Day celebrating their friendships—is another way to express your admiration or appreciation for those around you.
I’ve always loved the idea of Galentine’s Day. You can dress up with your friends, buy flowers for each other, have some cute snacks, and watch a rom-com—what else says I love you like a girl’s night in?
The last way to go against the traditional ideologies of V-Day celebrations is to dedicate the day to yourself. Making the day about self-love, self-help, self-appreciation, etcetera is one of the most important things.
We often think about love as something that requires another individual, and I don’t blame us. The idea that love requires someone else to love you is perpetuated all throughout media—romance movies, love songs, advertisements, and so on.
We need to redefine how we look at love and understand the most important person you can love is yourself. And on the days when you’re struggling with that—because it’s not always easy—you have family and friends to be there for you.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day with your significant other or should condemn those who do. Celebrating Valentine’s with your partner is still amazing. The hopeless romantic in me still pines over the idea of flowers being delivered to my door or cliché dinner dates planned out by my person.
Rather, I’m saying it’s okay to not have a partner on Valentine’s Day because that’s not all it can be about. We need to break away from the conventional idea that celebrating love on Valentine’s Day requires a partner.
Love can be celebrated in the company of family, friends, or alone. Keep a more open mind about what encapsulates notions of “love” and be willing to transform it into something new—something that includes self-love, independence, family, and friends.
You don’t need a significant other to buy you flowers or take you out to dinner. As Miley says, you can do that all by yourself.
Tags
family, friends, love, relationship, valentine's day
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