Valentines Day… Gross Commercialization or A Bit O’ Love to Break Up the Bleak of Winter?

Valentines Day… Gross Commercialization or A Bit O’ Love to Break Up the Bleak of Winter?

Valentines Day… Gross Commercialization or A Bit O’ Love to Break Up the Bleak of Winter?

Before we go ahead to talk about Valentines Day… just a quickie reminder to help us donate to the Columbia Valley Food Bank!  It’s a particularly difficult and lean time of year for the organization on the heels of the Holidays.  For the entire month of January, we at Inspire want to continue those donations going. Our local Food Bank is almost tapped out at this time of year and still needing to help feed many local families!

DONATE FOOD or FUNDS… AND SAVE!! (scroll below for deets!)

We’re less than a month out and we thought this would be a great opportunity to offer up plenty of lead time so you can adequately plan for this special day.  A day, we may remind you, that is perfectly placed to relieve some of the mid-winter doldrums. But, for some reason, despite the number of overly commercialized holidays that come ’round each year, Valentines Day seems to inspire the most ire. Is it the exploitation of ‘love’ that offends?  Maybe it’s resentment over feeling like you have to reminded to show some appreciation of loved ones – I mean, as if?!?! If you think about it, though, in the deepest, darkest, sometimes coldest, depths of winter, I think it’s probably certain that everybody is ready for a little mini-celebration of just about anything… so, why not love! So, yes, is it a made-up holiday?  Of course!  But here are a couple of arguments, outside of needing any excuse to celebrate just about anything in the middle of February, in favour of embracing Valentine’s Day a little bit more. A common argument against Valentines Day is that we should really be demonstrating our love for each other any time of year, every day even… but, if we’re honest, we don’t.  The grind of the everyday consumes us.  Days turn into weeks, weeks into months and, well, Happy New Year! yet again.  And in the rush of days, and crush of demands (work, bills, school, groceries, getting exercise, commuting, car-pooling, etc.), how often do you really stop to consider your loved ones.  V-Day offers up the quick reminder we might need to take a little time, give a little gift of flowers or sweets, to show our loved ones a little appreciation. It doesn’t have to be about couples!  We are blessed with many different relationships, all of which could use a little boost in a simple show of thoughtful appreciation.  Children, parents, grandparents, your favourite neighbour.  They can all benefit from a valuable little show of how much they mean to you. But, if we are to look at the commercial aspect to this fabricated holiday, it’s fun to check out the numbers.  Take a look at the infographic below to see how Canadian regard the day and how, really, the reminder to show love seems to be something we’re all looking for… particularly as it may help alleviate at least a little of the mid-winter blues. SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave