February 14th is getting near, leaving everyone across the globe scrambling for drug store teddy bears and chocolates for their significant other. This year, we think it’s time to look at the Day of Love with a different perspective. While the entire month of February is associated with romance, it is important to take note that Valentine’s Day is not just about romantic love. Love is all around us in various forms, whether that be platonic love, familial love, self-love, or romantic love.

We understand it’s easy to fall into a pattern of negativity being single around Valentine’s Day, having videos of couples all over social media, or seeing your favorite couple on a show could feel like it’s hard to avoid.

Even if you’re without a romantic Valentine this year, it can be a reflective experience to look at all the other kinds of love you have in your life. There are plenty of ways you can celebrate, whether that be going out to a Galentine’s Dinner with your friends from school, or making cookies and staying in to watch cheesy rom-coms with your siblings. If you find your self love practices have been put on hold with all of your daily stressors, take some time on the 14th to do some positive affirmations or a face mask while you watch your favorite movie.

Instead of looking at Valentine’s Day as a forced romantic holiday, you can focus on all of the loving, positive relationships you have in your life. There’s a lot of pressure from social media to be perfect 24/7, and here on the Grotto Staff we understand because at the end of the day, we go through it too. You might find it helpful to put away your phone or temporarily get off of Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat for the night to focus on yourself instead of being bombarded with Valentine’s Day content.

A practice we have found helpful would be listening to podcasts or music, especially those that talk about real life issues we face as young women and responding with advice. A couple great ones include the most recent Valentine’s episode on Miss Congeniality with Eli Rallo (Spotify) or different curated Valentine’s playlists by searching on Spotify.

By starting to practice these healthy habits of self love on Valentine’s Day, then you can begin to implement them in your daily life.

No matter where you find yourself, remember to take a step back and look at the love around you. It’s a day to celebrate love itself, and not just the romantic kind.

Here at the Grotto, we hope you all have a Valentine’s Day full of love and joy and we hope you take our advice to heart.