A “Love Gurus’” Most High-Pressured Blog entry: The Valentine’s Day Edition

Dear "It" Girl,

Being the female that you are, you are most definitely aware of the approaching holiday-Valentine's Day-this Sunday, February 14, 2010-and all of the red hearts, pink roses, and chocolate covered strawberries that are supposed to come with it. You are probably also mindful of all the bad press Valentine's Day gets. (Anti-Vday parties, anyone?)The high expectations and huge disappointments of some women-most especially those who discover the Tiffany & Co. box holds a different kind of ring than they hoped for-and the sketchiness of some men who avoid the pressure by boycotting the holiday altogether, can make for a lot of negativity in the air.

Love is supposed to be in the air though. (At least that's what my Aol homepage suggests!) Being the "love guru" that I am, I, of course, have always loved Valentine's Day-whether I've had a love or not. I wish more people would share my penchant for the holiday and use it as an opportunity to celebrate love and life despite the imperfections of their loves and lives.

Some people say that you don't need a holiday to celebrate love-you should celebrate it every day. (For some reason, I doubt that such people celebrate love every day.) You know who those people usually are? Men! (Men who don't know what to get their wives and girlfriends for the holiday and just decide on nothing.) Now, don't get me wrong, if you follow this blog regularly, you know I love men!! I am merely pointing out that some men push some women to despise the day that they would ordinarily be predisposed to love.

Ah, Valentine's Day. It's bitter-sweet. It could be more sweet for you if you know what I know: Some men are nervous about showing feelings. Some men do not acknowledge feelings to begin with. (This does not mean that they do not have feelings!)Some men work hard to choose the perfect gift or plan the ideal date that reflects the level of their feelings toward their lucky ladies. Some men fall short. Some men hate on Valentine's Day. Some women hate on men who hate on Valentine's Day. Some women and some men do none or all of the above.

The point is, everyone is different. While this day will play out different versions of the same song for different people- ideally, all the songs would be love songs. If you have goodness and love and your life in the form of a romantic partner, hopefully you'll have more of it on this day. But let's get real ladies, if you weren't connecting and sharing the love with your current partner before February 14^th you probably won't be connecting and sharing the love after.

Clearly, your relationship is on your own time line. You can't hurry love. (Not even on Vday!) If you don't have a relationship, you have total control of planning your own time line for finding love. You can start by paying me and my team at Master Matchmakers a visit this weekend in Atlantic City, NJ for all over Valentine's Day inspired events. More info here: http://www.heartac.com/)

Whether your single, coupled, or anything and everything in between, I wish you a………

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Love, Rachel Russo, MS, MFT