Happy day after Valentine’s day!
Hopefully things were not too stressful. However, judging by the crowds at the chocolate and the card shops yesterday, I’m not sure that that was the case.
I often wonder why we allow ourselves to become stressed by the holidays or special occasions such as Valentine’s Day. On the one hand, there are undoubtedly some unavoidable stressors during any holiday. But on the other hand, we sometimes allow external factors to influence what we feel we need to do.
Case in point: Many people who were part of yesterday’s crowd at the chocolate shops likely felt stressed that they had left their Valentine’s day shopping till the last minute. On top of that, they likely felt obligated to purchase something for their significant other because that is what the occasion “called for”.
We are all familiar with that gnawing feeling that comes over us at the beginning of December (earlier for some, later for most) that inevitably results in fighting with crowds looking for that one perfect gift for everybody under the sun!
No matter how well intentioned you may be in your pursuit for the perfect gift, the holidays often result in STRESS!
Why do we allow Corporate America to dictate the norms for special occasions? Does a bright red heart, chocolate truffles and a dozen roses really tell our significant other how we feel? Our lives our stressful enough without someone telling us what the correct way is to show someone you love that you really do love them.
Who knows? Maybe taking the time on a daily basis to take care of the one you love is worth more than a day of chocolates and roses.
Now there’s a thought!
Comments 1
Valentine’s Day also seems like the least practical of holidays. Other holidays at least seem to have some degree of practicality to them (you might get something useful/fun for Christmas, Hanukkah or your birthday).
In Japan, Valentine’s Day often requires women to give giri-choko (literally ‘obligation chocolate’) to all their male co-workers, “often at great personal expense” (thanks Wikipedia).
Lastly, Valentine’s day was never traditionally a jewelry holiday — until the diamond industry started realizing they could use it to up diamond sales (also in the Wikipedia article).
Posted 17 Feb 2007 at 3:42 pm ¶Post a Comment