Be in love with yourself for Valentine’s Day
Some students can get down in the dumps on Valentine’s Day, so the Multicultural Center hosted an event to help students celebrate themselves and have a self-care night.
Fabiola Diaz, the director of Latinx Affairs, came up with the event idea to have people feel good about themselves on this holiday. It is also a collaboration with the other departments in the Multicultural Center.
“We [The Multicultural Center] wanted to make sure that all the students felt the love with themselves first. That way, they can portray love to other people,” said Diaz. “There were a couple of activities like the loving yourself activity which was making cards for other people. Another one was self-love, in which we had a couple of mirrors where students said positive affirmations to themselves looking at their mirror.”
There was also bingo at the event in which students could win prizes. As the event was hosted on Valentine’s Day, there were an assortment of Valentine’s-themed prizes to win, along with regular items useful for any student.
“They were in correlation with the loving yourself theme. We had some stress items like facial masks, stress bowls and lip balms. We also had massage guns as well,” said Daiz. “The other ones were just general prices like mugs with candy. I love candy. There was also some MSU gear as well.”
BalenciaSariah Crosby, the interim director of African American Affairs, hopes students got a lot out of this event.
“This is a collaborative effort across our different offices within the Multicultural Center and diversity at large. There’s like all hands on deck in everyone’s involved in their own way. There were different twists and things that we brought to it,” said Crosby. “At the end of the day, I think we all understand and recognize that there is a need for affirming oneself and affirming others. It was an opportunity to get the students to look within, look at one another right, appreciate and acknowledge, and so forth, which is critical to mental and emotional well-being.”
Midterms happen next week, and students can get overwhelmed by them. Crosby thinks that this event was a good way for students to destress.
“We’re approaching midterms soon. It is becoming very apparent that the students are under strain, and we wanted to provide these safe and fun opportunities for them to freely expressed and appreciate themselves and just enjoy amid everything that’s happening around us in our communities and beyond,” said Crosby.
Diaz hoped students got a lot out of this event as well.
“I think this is a great reminder for everyone to love themselves because of how we see ourselves sometimes. We judge ourselves or stress and think about other things,” said Diaz. “Sometimes we forget about ourselves, and it’s a good reminder to bring ourselves and our mental health first to give to others.”
Header Photo: The Multicultural Center put on their “Love Yourself” event on Valentine’s Day to spread the message that even if you’re alone on Valentine’s Day, you can be your own Valentine and your own lover. (Dylan Long/The Reporter)
Write to Lauren Viska at lauren.viska@mnsu.edu