{"id":20694,"date":"2024-02-27T17:28:46","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T01:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=20694"},"modified":"2024-02-27T17:29:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T01:29:30","slug":"introspective-planning-for-v-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/introspective-planning-for-v-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Introspective planning for V-day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Written by: <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Liberty Miller | Lifestyle Editor<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I\u2019ve always questioned the validity and purpose of Valentine\u2019s Day. Why does it matter so much to dedicate one day to a loved one? A devoted partner should be doing that every day. I attribute the existence of Valentine\u2019s Day to consumerist culture and societal pressure to not be single.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, I started thinking about what else I could do on Valentine\u2019s Day to make it special, but not like how society has designed it. The stereotypical Valentine\u2019s Day event consists of buying flowers or chocolate and planning a date or elaborate escapade with a partner. My version of Valentine\u2019s Day shifts the focus from partners and romantic interests back to oneself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instead of buying roses, find a local flower shop and buy a bouquet. Give the bouquet to a family member or friend, or simply keep it in a noticeable place for the next week to brighten the day. Buying locally is a great way to give back to the community and keep some good feelings for oneself. This goes for any product, but with the overstated emphasis on roses at this time of the year, giving more love and attention to some lesser-loved flowers will be a nice change of pace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instead of falling into the consumerist scheme of buying ten different heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, make some baked goods at home. The calming ritualistic nature of taking the time to bake will add fulfillment and purpose to the day. Giving baked goods to someone is also a great way to show that time was put into that person\u2019s gift. Now that the roses and chocolates are taken care of, it\u2019s time to think about how to plan an event for the day \u2014 or even if planning one is worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the majority of introverted individuals, Valentine\u2019s Day is a hellscape of acquaintances asking about one\u2019s plans, couples posting a slew of confessions and photo collages, red or pink signs advertising the latest overpriced product and the dreaded phone call from parents trying to glean every ounce of romantic information out of their beloved relative. It\u2019s easy to get caught up in all of these things, but hard to take a moment, breathe and ask oneself what matters on Feb. 14. Is Valentine\u2019s Day the one day the boss lets everyone go home early, or has it simply been a long and hard week? What matters the most isn\u2019t what is expected of someone on Valentine\u2019s day, but the best way one can spend their day to fill up their fulfillment cup and spend time with their most important people, whether it be partner, friend or family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Contact the author at howllifestyle@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":20695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[2128,310,2129,1584,2127,2126,1933],"class_list":["post-20694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-confidence","tag-independence","tag-relationship-advice","tag-romance","tag-self-care-2","tag-self-love-3","tag-valentines-day-2"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}