Each year, Valentine’s Day is accompanied by an array of commercial crusades filled with superficial trappings of love and affection. We’re gently coerced to buy jewellery, go on lavish dates, dress up to the nines, spend an unholy amount of money and bend over backwards to make the right impression. And to what end?
It’s just a stupid money-making scheme…. Right?
For the most part, we would agree with the above statement. HOWEVER, there’s something about celebrating love that just can’t feel wrong ─ no matter how much the capitalists try to sully it.
That brings us to the purpose of this blog.
What is Love?
Zando took to the streets to uncover the true meaning of love and the answers were quite enlightening. See below.
Not just another corny Valentine’s Day campaign…
Because not all great loves are made of the epic stuff that takes place in a Nick Sparks novel, we thought we’d do Valentine’s Day a little differently this year.
Romantic Love
Romantic love is probably the most common form that we are exposed to. It’s the one that makes Tom Cruise jump on couches mid-way through an Oprah interview; it’s the one that makes Ariel sign her voice away to an evil witch, it’s the one that makes Beyoncé take back her cheating-good-for-nothing-rapper-husband-who-doesn’t-even-deserve-a-mention, it’s the one that makes people tattoo other peoples’ names and faces on their body, it’s the one that makes us roll our eyes at ridiculous shows of affection and it’s the one that makes a completely responsible person, do extraordinarily irresponsible things… all for the sake of love.
It’s a beautiful thing.
Being in love (romantically) is an experience that many of us seek for our entire lives. It’s the finishing piece to our puzzle and it’s the one that, arguably, makes us feel most complete.
Pull quotes:
– Love means knowing that no matter what, you have someone to count on. It’s unconditional and makes you feel good on the inside. You can trust the person you love and are comfortable around them. It’s like your heart tells you that it’s good for you. Love never hurts or makes you cry your eyes out
– Love starts as a concept and develops into a person.
– Love is: Patience, kindness, caring.
– Love is selfless and unconditional. It means putting somebody else’s wants, needs, and goals before yours and never letting them lose sight of it.
– To me, love looks like sacrificing certain things for the better of the person.
Familial Love
Familial love is the first love that we experience ─ the real everlasting kind. The love we have for those we regard as family is something truly special and can’t be quantified or equated to any other kind. Take the fierce love and protection we have for our mothers, for example, nothing could ever replace it. On the converse, a mother’s love is unconditional and knows no bounds. #WeLoveYouMom! To conclude, familial love is the purest form of selflessness and acceptance.
Pull quotes:
– Love looks like compassion, no judgement, no blame. I always teach my girls to love themselves first and not to be critical as they change. Once we love ourselves unconditionally, only then can we love others unconstitutionally. Love is truth, freedom and ever-changing. I believe in staying open and willing to learn more about ones’ self every day. Once we can love ourselves, we can learn to share that love with others. Love looks like trust, freedom, support and makes one a better person today, than they were yesterday.
– To me, love means coming home to a full fridge and lots of hugs from my family.
Self-Love
This one is, by far, the most important one. Self-love is about more than wearing face masks every other week, listening to Ariana Grande’s ‘Thank You, Next’ and posting no-makeup selfies on IG. Though all of the above still applies, self-love is buried in the feeling behind doing these small acts. At the very core of self-love, lies acceptance and appreciation. At some point, we need to tell ourselves; “I am enough, I am worthy, I accept myself” and believe it. Self-love is not only important, it’s necessary.
There’s a common misconception that if you don’t love yourself, no one else will ─ this is wholly untrue because everyone deserves love. Oftentimes, we need to give ourselves the love we think we think we deserve (Even if it means indulging in a little impromptu shopping spree or something small like getting a new haircut #DoYouBoo).
Pull quotes:
– Love is waking up in the middle of a field of yellow grass with the last rays of the sun keeping you just warm enough to want to stay there forever.
– To me, love is eating your favourite flavour of ice cream and always having room for more.
No matter who you’re loving on the 14th of February, make sure that they know it by showing them. If you’re looking for some easy gift ideas, visit our gifting hub to get some Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas (the capitalists made us do it!).
