Valentine’s Day
Life’s challenges can be overwhelming; everyone deserves a space to feel heard and supported. At Roamers Therapy, we provide trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, LGBTQIA+ affirming, and evidence-based environments to help you heal, grow, and navigate your mental well-being journey. As your psychotherapist, we are here to guide you every step of the way.
Valentine’s Day is often thought of as a holiday to celebrate romantic love. However, Valentine’s Day can be a day to celebrate any kind of love, appreciation, or gratitude for the things that matter most in your life. In fact, in some Latin American cultures, Valentine’s Day is known as “Día del Amor y la Amistad” — or the Day of Love and Friendship.
Who Can I Celebrate On Valentine’s Day?
On Valentine’s Day, you can celebrate self-love, platonic love, and familial love too! Here are some ideas of the types of people (or things) you can celebrate:
- Family members
- Friends
- Acquaintances
- Coworkers
- Pets
- Places
- Yourself
How Can I Celebrate People Besides Romantic Partners?
There are several ways you can celebrate people (or things) during Valentine’s Day. Here are some examples:
- Words of Affirmation or Appreciation
- Gift Giving
- Quality Time
- Acts of Service
- Physical Touch
Words of Affirmation or Appreciation
Words of affirmation or appreciation are a great way to communicate your love or gratitude to yourself and others.
- Send someone a text message
- Write someone a letter or send them a card
- Call someone
- Send someone a voice note
- Practice daily affirmations
- Start a gratitude journal
Gift Giving
Depending on your love language or the other person’s, giving gifts can be a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. This can include things like:
- Getting someone a cup of coffee
- Buying your pet a treat
- Buying yourself a treat or something you’ve been saving up for.
- Sending someone their favorite snack, food item, or flowers.
- Sending someone a picture of something that made you think of them.
Quality Time
Words of affirmation or appreciation are another great way to express gratitude, love, or appreciation with someone through spending time with them.
- Going on dates. Dates can be a great way to bond with friends, family, and yourself.
- Calling someone to talk.
- Doing an activity with another person (or alone), like going on walks, practicing a hobby, painting, or watching a movie.
Acts of Service
Helping someone out or doing something nice to make things a bit easier for them can greatly impact how they feel supported and loved.
- Helping out a family member or roommate with chores.
- Cleaning out your pets’ feeding bowls or litterbox.
- Helping a coworker with a task
- Doing something nice for yourself, like self-care.
Physical Touch
Though this might not feel as organic or appropriate as other types of relationships, many people in our lives have physical touch as their main love language. There are ways to do this with platonic relationships, but as always, consent is required.
- Hugging your friends or loved ones
- Giving handshakes, shoulder pats, or fist bumps when greeting them.
- Holding hands with a friend
- Cheek kisses
- Petting your pets or cuddling with them
- Holding yourself
Take-Aways
However you choose to show the important people in your life love and appreciation, what is important is that it feels genuine and meets their love language(s).
Platonic, familial, and self-love are equally important as romantic love, even if we do not celebrate that as much.
How will you express love and appreciation to important people in your life?
At Roamers Therapy, our psychotherapists are here to support you through anxiety, depression, trauma and relationship issues, race-ethnicity issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, ADHD, Autism, or any challenges you encounter. Our psychotherapists are trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Acceptance, and Commitment Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, and Gottman Therapy.
Whether you’re seeking guidance on a specific issue or need help navigating difficult emotions, we’re ready to assist you every step of the way.
Contact us today to learn more about our services and schedule a session with our mental health professionals to begin your healing journey. To get started with therapy, visit our booking page.
First, decide if you’ll be paying out-of-pocket or using insurance. If you’re a self-pay client, you can book directly through the “Book Now” page or fill out the “Self-Pay/Out-of-network Inquiry Form.” If you’re using insurance, fill out the “Insurance Verification Form” to receive details about your costs and availability. Please let us know your preferred therapist. If your preferred therapist isn’t available, you can join the waitlist by emailing us. Once your appointment is confirmed, you’ll receive intake documents to complete before your first session.
This page is also part of the Roamers Therapy Glossary; a collection of mental-health related definitions that are written by our therapists.
While our offices are currently located at the South Loop neighborhood of Downtown Chicago, Illinois, we also welcome and serve clients for online therapy from anywhere in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Clients from the Chicagoland area may choose in-office or online therapy and usually commute from surrounding areas such as River North, West Loop, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, Bronzeville, South Shore, Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Wicker Park, Bucktown and many more. You can visit our contact page to access detailed information on our office location.