Jack Wraight and Meredith House are happily in love . . . and hate Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is a day for celebrating your love—plain and simple . . . unless you’re a retailer. Or a restaurant. Or single.
Valentine’s Day, for better or worse, may not be expressly for celebrating love. Couples may feel pressure on that day to get gifts, cards, chocolates, or flowers. It isn’t as pure or as corporate-free as it might have been before. But, despite all the pressure, there may be a way to enjoy it.
“I’m honestly not a big Valentine’s Day person”
Meredith House and her boyfriend Jack Wraight have been dating for 6 years. They met right here at Fanshawe College and have been together ever since. As it happens, this year, Jack’s been scheduled to work late and their plans are bust, as Meredith explains.
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I don’t even think Jack is around Valentine’s Day. But also, I just haven’t really put much thought into it. So maybe I’ll order myself some food. And if he can be here, then that’s cool.”
For Meredith, Valentine’s Day isn’t what it’s supposed to be.
“I don’t like the pressure. I also just struggle with showing affection. So having a dedicated day for being overly affectionate is sometimes uncomfortable, even with my partner have a long time . . . I would rather it be more spontaneous.”
Erika Botha is a relationship coach. She gave some tips on enjoying Valentine’s Day this year.
And why can’t it be more spontaneous? Well, it can. That’s what the experts say at least.
Erika Botha is a relationship coach. She says that Valentine’s Day doesn’t need to be so rigid—the pressure only mounts up if we pick out February 14th and keep to it.
“I love to celebrate love. But must it be on the 14th of February? No, definitely not. It can be actually any other day. And I think the 14th of February– everything is crazy, expensive. Chocolates is expensive. So I I want to tell couples go and decide. ‘Do you really have to celebrate on the 14th of February? Can you not celebrate on the 15th of February?”
And that’s good for Meredith and her boyfriend Jack. Jack works as a phone salesman and that means hours can be all over the place.
“I am scheduled to work and at work we’re upgrading our debit terminals. So I’m actually staying an extra two hours late. I’ll be gone from the house from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m.”
“In the past, maybe we’d go out for dinner or something or go see a movie. We do something kind of fun together. Neither of us were really too focused on getting each other a nice gift. We’re just trying to spend the day together.”
Relationship Coach Erika says that the best thing couples can do now is to know what their partner needs. For Jack and Meredith spending time together means more than gifts– and it changes couple to couple.
“Go online and do the five love languages quiz. The five love languages squares will tell you what is the love language for your partner, and then go and do something special . . . So say your partner’s love language is a present, then it is easy: go and buy a present. If your partner’s love language is quality time, go and say ‘All right. I cannot go take her to a restaurant or something but perhaps a walk in the park.’ Take a blanket, wrap her in it and say ‘hi love. Let’s go for it.’ . . . So do something like that. It depends on what your love languages.”
Valentine’s Day can be a lot of pressure. If you aren’t careful it can become exactly what it isn’t supposed to be.
Valentine’s Day can be hugely stressful for everyone– with the obvious group being single people. Couples, though, are under an exorbitant amount of pressure to keep up with what society says. Using Coach Erika’s tips and knowing what your partner needs can help you survive this year’s Valentine’s Day and maybe next year’s, too.
Comments