This Valentine’s Day, give a little love to the most important relationship in your life: the one with yourself. It’s the only relationship guaranteed to last a lifetime, and unfortunately, the one most often plagued by abuse. These gifts to give yourself for Valentine’s Day all center around different forms of self-love and self-care, and make excellent investments no matter your relationship status.
Fall In Love With An Author
To me, the only thing more romantic than falling for a book is an extended love affair with one writer’s voice. Melissa Broder’s novel The Pisces and essay collection So Sad Today was one such infatuation for me; her writing is lol-funny, deeply relatable, clever-yet-sincere, and extremely relevant to those of us with an addiction to falling in love.
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If you like Melissa Broder, Ottessa Moshfegh is another writer to check out — they share a somewhat similar sense of dark-yet-intimate humor. Eileen, My Year of Rest & Relaxation, and Homesick For Another World all passed the test of making me laugh aloud through a breakup and a cold. Speaking of which, if this is a tough holiday for you, Zen monk Tchit Nhat Hanh may be the writer you want now: Anger and No Mud, No Lotus are especially good for learning to sit with some difficult feelings.
Rachel Cusk is an author so emotionally incisive and masterful that she makes the very difficult — articulating universal phenomena and feelings — seem effortless. Her Outline Trilogy (especially Transit if you’re going through a breakup), The Bradshaw Variations, and The Country Life all make for compulsive reads so riddled with insight and exact vocabulary that you can feel yourself getting smarter as you’re thoroughly entertained.
Keep It Sexy
Whether you’re single or coupled, Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to invest in some new toys for yourself. The FunFactory Stronic G is the kind of vibrator insecure men fear— its unusual motor actually rocks back and forth to mimic penetrative sex so well that it is practically an insurance policy against future regrettable hookups. Aneros VIVI is another great new toy designed to incentivize kegel training by doubling as a vibrator, while the LELO GIGI 2 will also help you flex those muscles as a not-too-big G-Spot stimulator. For those with members, there are plenty of toys out there for you too. Why not experiment, if you haven’t yet, with a vibrating ring or even a “sextech console”?
Some sexy-yet-comfortable lingerie by Only Hearts is also a good way to make yourself feel loved, as is investing in a wireless bra so seamless-yet-supportive you’ll forget you’re wearing it, like the True Body Lift Scoop Neck Bra. If you don’t have breasts but would also like some nice new underwear, MeUndies makes some very comfy and cute boxer briefs.
Make Your Home a Health Spa
Turning your home into a more meditative space is one of the gifts you can give yourself that keeps on giving. I use this Gurunanda Diffuser & Humidifer or this Honeywell air purifier to freshen the air, sit on this floor seat so my back is supported, and stare at the flame of either a deliciously-scented candle or this electronic light and sound therapy candle when I meditate every day.
In the kitchen, investing in a good steamer like this Turbo Cooker might encourage you to eat more veggies, and I’ve found that a high-power blender like this one ultimately saves money if you make your own pesto, smoothies (with my favorite superfood powder), nut butters and milks. A good-but-simple plant-based cookbook like The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook should give you plenty of other DIY ideas.
Downloading a personal training app like Trainiac and buying an adjustable weight set can help you keep that New Year’s resolution without actually having to leave the house, and investing in a truly well-made pair of running shoes can also make a huge difference in motivation to move.
Be Sweet To Yourself
Valentine’s Day is all about the chocolate, so consider getting yourself some craft, fair-trade bars. RaWay Chocolate bars are raw and come in unusual flavors like praline-pistachio, while ChocoVivo gives you the hardest hit of chocolate intensity with chocolate-covered cacao beans. If chocolate isn’t your thing, then perhaps some sophisticated gummy candy by SugarFina will satisfy that sweet tooth.
On V-Day day itself, treat yourself to pancakes topped with some bourbon-barrel aged maple syrup by Runamok Maple and some coffee brewed to your exact caffeine preferences — Momee Coffee makes ½ caf and even ¼ caf blends for those of us who are caffeine-sensitive or watching our intake. (If you’re more of a tea person, consider treating yourself to this monthly tea subscription box.) If you invest in these insanely soft Luxury Bamboo Sheets and this Loomstead Chunky Tastle Throw, you will have plenty of incentive to serve yourself breakfast in bed.
Splurge Like You Deserve It
If you’d really like to go all out for yourself this year, consider splurging on your Valentine’s Day gift to yourself. Light therapy is all the rage for cellular regeneration, skin health, and recovery. JOOVV makes little machines you can use at home to feel just like an Olympic athlete, while this light therapy device applies the same technique to directly targeting pain, and really did help my headache when I tried it. If you prefer more traditional tech splurges, the Google Pixel 3 has probably the best smartphone camera on the market and makes a great gift for those who derive much joy from selfies.
Personally, travel is my favorite thing to treat myself to, and lots of hotels have special packages for Valentine’s Day you can indulge in. Hotel Zetta’s Well +Away Rooms feature an indoor bicycle, air purifiers, and other healthy self-care touches; Le Parc Suite Hotel offers a more affordable-but-still luxurious V-Day package, complete with Prosecco and chocolates; while the Hotel Palomar Los Angeles-Beverly Hills offers an R&R package designed especially to pamper you with a VIP fitting with a stylist, a massage, and several other luxurious treats that will let you feel like royalty for a day. Go ahead, love yourself.
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