Valentine's Day causes severe stress, Canadian psychologists say
The once-bright holiday is mired in consumerist pleasures. What can be done about it?
For centuries Valentine's Day was a special day during which love and romantic feelings were celebrated, but in modern times the holiday has become overly commercialized and mired in philistine interests and gigantomania.
It seems that the only goal of the day was to have time to reserve a table at an expensive restaurant and give the traditional set of gifts like a giant bouquet of flowers and confectionery wrapped in a box in the shape of an equally huge heart.
The modern holiday industry puts a lot of pressure on everyday people, forcing them to put more and more effort into creating the perfect bourgeois fairy tale every year. In this case, those who are in any kind of romantic relationship and single people are equally stressed on this day. The latter, in general, have no choice but to hide on this day and do not go out.
"If you're in a relationship," advises Vancouver psychologist Kaitlyn Harvey. — The best way to avoid stress this holiday is simply to talk to your partner about how he or she wants to spend the day. You don't have to try to guess wishes and give some incredible surprise."
University of British Columbia professor Carrie Jenkins urges us to be critical of Valentine's Day, because it focuses solely on the romantic type of love, completely ignoring all other varieties of this feeling. For example, love for family, friends.
"Love, like gender, is actually a much more complex concept than is commonly believed," Jenkins assures us. — There are many more varieties of love than the plots of the old fairy tales suggest." So instead of struggling to conform to some unknown standard, Jenkins suggests using Valentine's Day to honestly ask ourselves what love means to us, what we really expect from a relationship, and whether we even need a partner.
