Celebrating Love in Many Forms

Valentine's Day is a good reminder that love comes in many different forms. While Valentine’s Day commercially celebrates big romantic displays and extravagant statements, it is important to take note of the way that love shows up in different avenues of our lives – often in daily, quiet, subtle ways. 

Outside of romantic love, there are a variety of ways that we experience and share this feeling with others. In our communities, we spread our love through celebrating cultures, supporting our schools, and rooting for our favorite teams. You can show this to your school by attending fundraisers, sanctioned school events, or supporting a club or team. If you are a student, you can help spread kindness by complimenting others and helping all students feel included. (Remember the power you hold in creating an environment in which everyone feels valued!) 

Cheering on a local team and rooting for their success is a great way to have pride in your community. If you play on a team, this might mean consistently encouraging your teammates, even when you are sitting out. Part of communicating love through commitment means showing up and trying your best to stick to obligations made. Another way to demonstrate this feeling is through volunteering or engaging in random acts of kindness. This might mean choosing to go out of your way to help a neighbor shovel their driveway or paying for someone else's meal. Small, consistent acts of kindness strengthen connection and support emotional well-being.

Here is a list of fun, random acts of kindness to try: 

• Donate your old clothes, books, or toys to a charity.

• Pick up trash.

• Leave snacks for your mail carrier.

• Hold the door open for a stranger.

• Leave change in a vending machine.

• Write letters to soldiers in the military.

• Buy school supplies for your teacher.

• Volunteer at a nursing home. 

• Give candy to a bus driver.

• Let someone else go in front of you in line.

• Buy dog toys and leave them at a dog park.

• Plant native seeds. 

• Paint kindness rocks.

In a quiet moment of reflection, a man writes a heartfelt letter to those serving our country.

Celebrating cultural love is another way to practice self-love while still uplifting your community. You can celebrate your culture (whether ethnic/religious/regional/familial culture) through educating yourself on your history - highlighting strengths and uniqueness to foster a spirit of resilience. This can be done through sharing family stories and traditions, cooking cultural meals, practicing your ethnic language, and having open conversations about identity, pride, and belonging. You can continue this practice through immersing yourself in art, music, and aesthetics.

With our loved ones, it may be beneficial to learn each other’s love languages. Are you the kind of person who enjoys picking out gifts for others, or do you prefer to write a letter, explaining in heartfelt words how you care for the person? Some people may feel less comfortable verbally expressing their love. Instead, they may prefer to show it through acts of service or doing things for you to show you they care (e.g., making you breakfast, washing your car). Others may have a preference to spend quality time together, rather than to give many hugs. Some people like doing both! Regardless of how someone expresses their care via their ‘love language,’ recognizing and communicating these patterns is important in generating understanding and demonstrating support. 

A joyful family moment filled with laughter and love, as they gather together in celebration.

Self-love is a critical component of building our self-esteem and thanking our bodies for everything they have done for us. Self-love helps us to be patient with others and with ourselves. It allows us to slow down during moments of intense emotion and to trust ourselves and demonstrate grace. Practicing self-love as a preventative measure can help to reduce the risk of burnout and strengthen resilience when facing stressors. Self-love comes in many forms, including making time for self-care, exercising affirmations, acknowledging your growth, setting boundaries, choosing supportive relationships, and forgiving yourself. 

If you are a parent or a peer of someone who is struggling to show themselves kindness, you can model self-love for this person through being intentional about the words you use to describe others - focusing on positive traits and honoring progress (celebrating small steps along the way rather than just the end goal). When discussing problems or challenging areas, you can use a tool called ‘externalizing the problem’ in which you attribute the aspects of a problem to the problem itself, rather than to the characteristics of the person. Be aware of your own self-talk, avoid comparisons, celebrate uniqueness, and practice body positivity. 

Remember that love is practiced daily! It isn’t something that declares itself once a year, or only in moments of success. Rather, it is expressed through the reciprocal care we show ourselves and our communities.