Let’s be real, more often than not, Valentine’s Day is more of a deflating letdown than a smashing success.
Even if you managed to stage a Valentine’s date with all of the bells and whistles, on Feb. 15 you come face-to-face with The Void — the romance-less aftermath of dating’s ground zero.
The Void is where you get stuck either trying to resurrect the romance following a Valentine’s Day collapse or where you’re wondering how you can top the romantic high of a successful Valentine’s date — or build some momentum to keep the romance going.
So how can we stay romantic after Valentine’s day?
The answer may be simpler than you think. Every person and every relationship is unique, but here is some grounded post-Valentine’s Day advice to breathe some life and romance into your relationship during the post-Valentine’s day doldrums.
1. Throwback date
Why try to reinvent the wheel when it’s the wheel that brought you to where you are today? Social media loves #Throwback Thursday, so why not take her on a throwback date?
Recreate your first date or revisit a favorite staple of your early dating days. Valentine’s Day celebrates your relationship as is, in the present, so taking her on a throwback date is by nature an older, deeper and above all different kind of romance.
Taking a trip down memory lane may be the path less traveled, but it will bring you both closer to each other through what brought you together in the first place.
2. Change of pace
Get away. I don’t mean get away from your routine or your house. I mean get away from Valentine’s Day. Whether it was a disaster or a success, get away from it.
If your Valentine’s Day was chocolate and roses, Hallmark Cards and candles or (my favorite) pizza and a movie, find a change of pace. Take her on a date that brings zero recollections of Valentine’s Day.
Get out into nature, go on a double date, visit the family — find something that is free from the ghost of Valentine’s past. Create a new brand of romance for your relationship.
“If you want to kindle the romantic
fire, you need to prioritize her.”
3. Keep it simple.
The reputation of the world’s most notorious date night is one of grand gestures, opulent hors d’oeuvres and decadent dinners. How about going back to the basics?
Find the little things that make her happy and appreciate having you around: do the dishes, restock her favorite on-the-go snack, bring her lunch (notice the food-related theme?)
Sometimes the small gestures can spin out spontaneous romance far better than an over-planned and over-wrought dinner date.
4. Put her first.
It’s a simple truth. If you want to kindle the romantic fire after Valentine’s Day, you need to prioritize her. The more you put into your relationship, the happier both of you will be.
Relationships have a reflective nature where the unhappier or happier one person is, the more it will reflect on their partner and other aspects of life.
If you want the romance, the satisfaction and the joy after Valentine’s Day, put her first. You will both reap the rewards with renewed wonder and romance.
