Healthy Love for Valentines Day
February 13th, 2010
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by Shelley · Filed Under: Divorce Advice · Encouragement · Thoughts
My previous post about being single again and Valentines Day focused on what you might do for others. This post will focus on you. It is so important to remember to take care of yourself. It is quite common for people who are divorced or in the process of divorce to feel rejected, unloved, lonely and/or depressed. Throw in all of the hype for Valentines Day and you may have more than enough triggers to accelerate these feelings.
This Valentines Day LOVE yourself! Now please do not get me wrong here. I do not mean love yourself in a selfish, self centered, self absorbed sort of way. I am suggesting that you take care of yourself. Do something loving for yourself.
If you have children at home who depend on you, it is even more important to take care of yourself. I am sure you have heard this before, if you do not take care of yourself then it is more difficult to take care of others. This is so true. Taking care of yourself physically, making a point to exercise and eating healthy can help you emotionally when you are struggling. Often times we can get busy taking care of others, attending to work, daily details and neglect ourselves.
Give yourself permission to do something good for you, for Valentines Day! Think about what energizes you, what would lift your spirits, what is something special you do not normally do for yourself that would be a special treat? I have listed some ideas below to get your creative mind flowing.
- Massage
- Dinner or lunch at one of your favorite restaurants
- Carry out dinner from one of your favorite restaurants
- Flowers, chocolate,
- Go to see a movie you have been wanting to see with a friend. Funny movies can be healing!
- Schedule time to do one of your favorite hobbies; if one of your hobbies involves exercise like hiking, biking, walking, running, skiing, all the better!
- Shopping – maybe you have a gift card you have not used. Now might be a great time to use it.
- Treat yourself to something that fits within your budget whether it is a new book, music, manicure, pedicure, television, shoes, something for one of your hobbies.
Consider doing something special for yourself. Maybe you have not taken the time to do anything for you for awhile, or possibly there is something that would normally make you feel guilty spending the money on yourself? It is okay to do something special for yourself. Be realistic and reasonable. Keep it within your budget.
This Valentines Day take care of yourself in a healthy way!
May your day be blessed with something that brings you joy!
Feel free to share your thoughts or ideas in the comment section below, on what you intend to do to take care of you on Valentines Day!
Copyright 2010 Shelley Grieser All Rights Reserved.

If thIs is your first “Valentine’s Day” as a single person in a while, getting through the holiday can be challenging. It is difficult not to be bombarded with messages and images of couples in love everywhere you go. I wonder when (if ever) did you have a perfectly romantic Valentines Day experience like the ones portrayed in the media? May be it is just me?
As we begin the new year, has anyone asked you about your new year’s resolution? I was speaking to one of my son’s friends the other day and he was telling me about his new year’s resolution. He told me his resolution was to live a more Christ-centered life. I told him I thought that was great and asked him how he planned to achieve his resolution? He replied, I am not sure. I have not really thought about it.
Are you struggling with the holiday season this year? Do memories of the past trigger sadness for the present? The holidays can be especially difficult for the first year of being single. It is okay to recall past memories of happy holiday seasons. Be thankful for those memories.
We cannot always control our circumstances, nor can we control other people. The only thing we can control is how we respond to our circumstances and the choices we make. It can be really frustrating when our circumstances take a downward turn and no matter what we do, despite our best efforts and prayers, we can not change them.
I wonder where you are in the divorce process? Are you in the state of shock? denial? devastation, barely able to function? Maybe you are going through the motions of the divorce process, feeling numb to life? Possibly you have reached a point of just wanting the divorce to be final, you are tired and worn out? It could be that your divorce is final and you are craving some peace, comfort, restoration and healing from the battle.
Let me start off by saying, “Divorce does not make you a failure.” Just because your marriage may have failed, you are not a failure! Zig Ziglar says,”Failure is one of life’s greatest teachers as long as we are not crushed by it – as long as we learn from it.”
Today I wanted to share with you a link to a blog post from
Yesterday I wrote about surviving divorce. How we survive divorce will ultimately be determined by our attitude. I remember my divorce recovery leader sharing a version of the following story with our group.
Yesterday I shared how a friend of mine called me on Father’s Day to ask me to pray for her brother-in-law, Bob. Bob suffered a severe heart attack while walking on the beach Sunday morning and was not expected to live through Sunday night. Given the urgency of Bob’s condition I suggested to my friend that she submit prayer requests on the Internet, to cover Bob in prayer.