I’ve decided to play out the week with a few more posts focused on the big Valentines Day because for many, whether you’re single or taken, it brings up a lot of expectations and other not so good feelings.

For the most part though, this post today will appeal more to you if you don’t have a date for Valentines Day, and especially  if you are an overeater and/or an emotional eater.

So What’s The Big Deal About Valentines Day?

So what is the big deal about Valentines Day? Well, it’s not a big deal at all if you don’t make it one. That’s the case with everything actually – it’s all about what meaning you assign to anything in your life.

But getting back to Valentines Day in general, for most single people it magnifies any feelings of aloneness that you already have – that is,  if you’re a single who would rather not be single. Valentines Day can bring up feelings of disappointment, lonliness, sadness, or even anger at “yet another Valentines Day spent alone”.

So what does this have to do with Fearless Fat Loss? 

Valentines Day has everything to do with the topic of health and fitness for body, mind, and spirit here at Fearless Fat Loss because many of you smart readers are in the process of moving away from emotional eating, overeating, and food abuse towards a more consciously fit lifestyle. And if you’re not quite there yet, Valentines Day is the perfect opportunity to stay aware, stay conscious of your feelings because if you don’t and you play out old habits, you’ll likely find yourself stuffing yourself with sugared, salted, fatted, processed foods and not feeling so good afterwards.

So what if you did something else instead? What if you focused on loving yourself just a little bit more on Valentines Day and make it a day that’s all about you? What if Valentines Day was the day that you fell in love with you? Now wouldn’t that be a neat experience to have?!

5 Way to Love Yourself on Valentines Day

So here are 5 simple ways you can focus on loving  YOU on Valentines Day –  5 ways to get into you and cherish and honor yourself in the way that you’d like to have someone else cherish and honor you. After all, people will treat you the way that you  allow them to and if you don’t cherish YOU no one else will.

If you honor and cherish you then so will others, but if you abuse yourself with food and negative thoughts because you don’t feel good about you, then you will attract others who will not cherish you either. In fact, you wouldn’t allow them to  cherish you  because you wouldn’t feel (either consciously or unconsciously) that you deserve it.

Let’s take a look at 5 ways you can love yourself on Valentines Day and make it an awesome, love-filled day for yourself:

1. Make a list of 14 things you love and respect about yourself. In honor of February 14, get out a pen a paper and list 14 things that you love and respect about you. These things could be anything about yourself that you love. They don’t have to be physical, in fact it’s good if you have a mix of different aspects about yourself that you list, such as  physical (your hair, your smile, your feet), actions you take (your ability to follow through, your creative talents you express), your personality (your quick wit, your compassion for others), or anything else you come up with.

If you at all struggle with this because you’re mired in beating yourself up all the time then what about going for the bottom line basics, like the fact that you get out of bed  each morning and keep going each day, or how about loving each of your inner organs? If you didn’t have your lungs, your stomach, your heart, you wouldn’t be reading this, right? How about loving and respecting each of them?

2. Do something fun that doesn’t involve food. On Valentines Day do one thing that you love to do that has nothing to do with food. If you love movies take a look at this list of romantic movies or if you’d rather laugh then pop in Seinfeld if that makes you laugh out loud.

Do whatever you find fun. Do you like to dance? Get a group of your friends together and go out dancing then, or get up from the computer now, put on your favorite tunes, and start dancing around!

Do you like biking, skiing, swimming, painting, or  singing karaoke? It depends on where you live as what kinds of outdoor activities you can do on Valentines Day but just pick something that is fun for you (mini golf?) that doesn’t center on food and go do it – have FUN! 😀

And, it’s not an option to use “I don’t have anyone to do anything with!” as an excuse to stop yourself from having fun. Get creative, do something that you can either do alone and feel comfortable or get out and go to a one day class. Go try ballroom dancing if that’s something you’ve always wanted to do, just have fun and go do it.

3. Send yourself a Valentines Teddy Bear. This is a really neat Valentines gift that you could give to yourself that doesn’t involve food, wine, or chocolate so there’s no risk of drowning your sorrows in emotional eating. It’s the cutest thing, a handmade Vermont Teddy Bear. It’s an awesome gift to give to  another or receive from your loved one (they guarantee delivery by V-Day  if you order by 11pm EST on Friday, the 13th)  but if you’re  hanging out with your best friend (YOU!) on Valentines Day why not get  one for yourself?

And if you missed my earlier post this week and would like some 3 more non chocolate ways to celebrate Valentines Day then check out those  ideas, too.

4. Plan a get together with loving, support friends. Why not get together on Valentines Day  with supportive, upbeat, positive-minded friends and support each other in all of the wonderful ways that you are unique and deserving of all that is good in life?

These will  probably be your single friends and note that I specified loving and supportive friends – if instead you choose to hang out with others who will lament and tell the story of how awful single life is, guess what you’d be doing? You’d be manifesting more of the same in your life!

It’s much more powerful to surround yourself with others who are focused on where they are headed instead of those who stay stuck in the story of what isn’t working. This is very important, not only that you focus on what’s working in your life but also that you tell the story of what’s working for you when you talk to others.

5. Relax and give yourself a break. Valentines Day really is just another day and you can choose to either spend it by telling yourself that you’ll always be alone or by focusing on all that is great and wonderful about YOU. You know, you don’t have to be perfect, you don’t need to prove anything, you don’t need to do one more thing to be loveable and to be good enough to be loved.

You can love you today and on Valentines Day exactly as you are right now and when you can honestly do that and let go of your negative stories about yourself then you’ll really be able to relax and just go with the flow.

So go take a bath, pet your dog, pet your cat, call a positive-minded inspirational friend, go for a walk, take a deep breath (or 2 or 3 or 10!),  get yourself a  cute Valentine teddy bear, watch a movie, have a laugh, stare at the clouds, drink a cup of tea, dance around to your favorite tunes, find 14 things you love about yourself, and look yourself in the eye in the mirror and tell yourself that you’re OK today  and you deserve to love  YOU exactly as you are on Valentines Day and every day.

And if you  do  choose to  celebrate Valentines Day with a wonderful meal you can do that too, while still making healthy, whole food choices that will make your body, mind, and spirit sing.