Chocolates, flower bouquets, letters with extravagant declarations of love–these are just some of the staple items back in demand this month. And while we romanticize getting gifts or having dinner under the moonlight with loved ones, the idea of love, especially during Valentine’s day, often celebrates a singular romantic form to it.
But love is multi-faceted. It comes in many forms and in different ways to all types of people. There’s no rule book to how it should be expressed and there’s certainly no love that’s remotely similar to any other. As we share love this Valentine’s season, let’s romanticize it in our own love languages and in forms we feel most deeply:
- For yourself
Loving yourself can perhaps be the most selfless act you can do in order to love others. Besides, how can you give what you don’t have in the first place? It seems that many believe that self-love is a form of narcissism when it is equally important as other forms of love.
Take it from former beauty queen and social entrepreneur Zara Carbonell who, like most of us, once believed that love revolves around romantic relationships. In her debut memoir book Lost You, Found Me, she chronicled her journey towards finding ultimate self-love and true fulfillment in life in her own terms and after a series of heartbreaks. In the end, she realized that prioritizing herself has directed her to the right people to love. Call it fate, but it’s most certainly just a side effect of knowing your worth and completely embracing self-love.
- For your family
Most of the time, our love for family becomes top priority and overshadows anything outside of that. It’s innate in our Filipino culture to be tightly knit and family oriented. However, this selfless form of love can squander whatever dreams we may have for ourselves. But in order to give the best for our families, we need to bring out our best selves as well.
From a mom of four who rose up to be a leader in the creative marketing industry, Chairmom Merlee Jayme shared how her career aspirations have ultimately shaped her daughters to strive for success in their respective fields and encouraged parents to dream big for their families in her book Chairmom.
- For your dreams
Sometimes life’s challenges compel us to reevaluate whether the dreams we have for ourselves are meant for us. We feel less about the hobbies and passions we used to have when we struggle to achieve our dreams.
But we need to remind ourselves why we’ve built our love for those dreams in the first place and Fearless Filipinas 2 does exactly that. In this anthology, 24 women shared their triumphs and tribulations in their quests to achieve their dreams and how their love for their fields and causes dared them to be different.
- For your work
Work is part of our daily lives and while it’s challenging to fully love what we do sometimes, our society is slowly placing emphasis on wellness and creating happy workplaces. Working Well shows the different work cultures and best HR practices some of the top companies in the country do to cultivate happy and productive employees.
Since side hustles are also gaining popularity to increase income, Selling on Carousell shares inspiring stories of how individuals found their love for business and working on their passions. Both these books are up for release but you can already reserve your copy!
- For your health
Loving our bodies despite the stress of life can be very hard. But loving our bodies requires more than physical exercise. It involves a total makeover, which all starts with a mindset for health and wellness.
Holistically Fit from the founder and CEO of Holifit PH Jose Villablanca, now available for pre-order, explains how to form small habits that can compound to long-term gains for our physical, mental, and emotional health so we can fully embrace and love ourselves.
- For your healing
Love can be toxic, especially when it comes from a place of trauma and despair. While it may lead us to distrust the idea of love, love can also come in the form of healing.
From debut author Gresson Peiffer’s Sharing My Light and Healing Energy: Journey to True Self, she imparts experiences of healing and wisdom amidst life’s challenges, how to overcome inner battles stemming from receiving toxic forms of love and ultimately cultivate a love built from forgiveness, acceptance, and inner strength.
- For God
No matter your spiritual beliefs, it is undeniable how strong faith in a higher being than ourselves can make the impossible things in life possible. Many times, we get caught up in the minute details of our lives that we tend to forget our lives are already anomalies or miracles by themselves.
Some time-off to reflect on the enormity of the world we live in can do wonders in our inner well-being. Ray Berja’s Faith and Grace is a 365-day devotion book to reconnect with our spiritual love. And since the seemingly monumental challenges we have in life find their way towards solutions, Hermen Atienza’s God Business Mandate speaks exactly how faith became a foundation for the success of many businesses we have today.
These are just some of the different facets of love we can touch on this season, but for many, love expands in the forms of cherishing a partner or spending some play time with a beloved pet or fur baby or even sending memes to friends. The picturesque view of love has infinite angles yet one thing remains clear.
“I think what’s special about this season is that people each have a unique way of expressing their love,” Monette Quiogue, Managing Partner of Bookshelf PH and Blankscape Media said. “Here at Bookshelf PH and Blankscape Media, we always strive to bring out unique stories about love and life. Making those stories come to life fuels us to be even more creative as a digital publishing house and a marketing agency. It also brings us closer to our love for storytelling and passion for empowerment and nation-building.”
Love, especially in this season of hearts, can feel overrated at times. And maybe it is–but love is a testament of our humanity and we do so because at our core, love compels us to live fully, completely, and unequivocally.
Get your copies of Lost You, Found Me (PHP 899), Chairmom (PHP 499), Fearless Filipinas 2 (PHP 799), Working Well (PHP 699), Selling on Carousell (PHP 799), Holistically Fit (PHP 899), Sharing My Light and Healing Energy: Journey to True Self (PHP 749), Faith and Grace (PHP 350), and God Business Mandate (PHP 899) at Bookshelf PH this Valentine’s Day.
