6 Self-Care Tips to Show Yourself Some Love This Valentine’s Day

It’s February and you know what that means – Valentine’s Day is upon us. While this day is meant to celebrate love, it can actually cause a bit of stress regardless of your relationship status. If you’re single, every advertisement you see and storefront you pass reminds you of it. While those in relationships feel compelled to make Valentine’s Day the most romantic day of the year – talk about pressure. So, this year instead of wallowing in our singledom or worrying about romancing our partners, we’re going to celebrate love differently, by loving ourselves. Here are a few of our favourite self-care tips to show yourself some love this Valentine’s Day.

1. Treat yourself to a Mani/Pedi: Few things can make a woman feel more put together than having her nails in tip-top shape. If you opt to DIY, we recommend starting your at-home treatment with a warm bath to soften your cuticle bed. Once you’ve dried off and put on your comfiest loungewear, give yourself a little foot/hand massage with your most luxurious cream (just remember to loosen the lid of your nail polish first). The SMART Foot Seat is ideal for foot and leg pampering. For an even more lavish experience, treat yourself to a paraffin wax kit. Not only does soaking your hands and feet in warm wax feel absolutely heavenly, but you’ll be left with baby soft skin and who doesn’t want that?

2. Buy Yourself Flowers: No, we don’t want you to send yourself a bouquet from “your secret admirer”. We want you to buy flowers for yourself, for the sole reason of admiring their beauty. Try to avoid bouquets (especially around Valentine’s Day) as they are typically overpriced and won’t last very long. Instead opt for a flower with a longer lifespan, like an orchid. Since they’re pretty low maintenance (placing an ice cube in them once a week is all the water they need), even those who lack a green thumb can enjoy an orchid for weeks if not months.

3. Indulge: Whether you find joy through fine wine, comfort food, shopping, or Netflix, give yourself permission to indulge without the guilt. Pick a few days to truly indulge in the things that bring you joy this month. Better yet, apply this to the rest of the year. We could all use a few days of indulgence every month.

4. Mute Your Heart Out: Sift through your social media accounts and mute anyone that makes you feel ‘less than’. It could be a fitness blogger with ‘the perfect body’, a business coach that makes you feel like you’re not doing enough, or even your recently engaged best friend. If someone’s posts are making you feel down, mute ‘em and don’t feel bad about it – you come first.

5. Do Something You Want to Do: You know that play you’ve been dying to see that your partner doesn’t want to go to? Or that workout class you’ve been wanting to try but none of your friends will go with you? Do that! So often, we put off something we really want to do simply because those around us don’t want to partake. This month, in celebration of self-love, find a day for you to finally do it. Who cares if you have to go alone? Sometimes the best company is no company at all.

6. Practice Gratitude: Gratitude has been a self-care buzzword for some time now and with good reason. There are few things better for the soul than taking a moment to reflect on all of the good things in your life. The practice of gratitude is even more important if you’re sitting there struggling to think of things to be thankful for right now. Don’t worry they don’t have to be massive things. It can be as simple as your coffee being especially tasty this morning or someone holding the door open for you when your hands were full. Being thankful for things both big and small help us to feel better about our days and eventually ourselves as well.

Whether you’re single or in a relationship, reframe Valentine’s Day as a reminder to love yourself first. Better yet, the next time you see a Valentine’s Day ad, pull out your phone and put one of these self-care techniques into your calendar to ensure that you actually do it. Be your own Valentine and spoil yourself – no one knows how to make you feel loved better than yourself.