(UNION CITY, CA.) While Valentine’s Day is traditionally about love, romance, and the idea of a special someone, Pilea Plant Shop Owner Abigail Herman believes that romance and a romantic partner are not necessary to celebrate love.
Instead, Herman places a large emphasis on self-love, self-care, and the other loving relationships one can foster. True to these ideas, she created the “Plant One On Me” self love event.
Photo Credit: Instagram.com / thepileaplantshop
“This isn’t about the holiday itself. It’s about self love, inner healing, building confidence, and learning how to care for yourself from the inside out,” says Herman, “I want [my guests] to leave feeling whole.”
Herman’s event features making personalized sugar scrubs, a guided meditation, love letters addressed to yourself, community building activities, snacks, and drinks.
When explaining her reasoning and goals behind having guests write love letters to themselves, Herman reveals a bit more about what exactly “inner healing” means.
“[The letters are] another way to put on paper that we accept our bodies, our minds, and ourselves as we are. That it’s okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to learn, and it’s okay to change our minds for the better.”
The guided meditation is also geared towards the concept of inner healing, but is also meant to promote peace and relaxation in a season where people may be struggling with love in different ways or feeling stressed out by life in general.
To top it all off, the sugar scrub promotes taking care of one’s mental health by caring for their physical health as well. Herman points out that the world is very fast-paced, pushing many people to rush through their bathing time. She wishes to teach guests that taking a moment to slow down and enjoy a bath or a sugar scrub is a great way to care for both the mind and the body.
Photo Credit: Instagram.com / thepileaplantshop
Though the theme of the event is self-care, it is also meant to foster community and friendship, two valuable places Herman asserts love and support can be found. When asked about past self-love and care events, Herman reveals how people who are very different from each other were still able to find community within the event.
“Tons of women [showed up] from different walks of life, nationalities, backgrounds, ages, some came totally solo and some came with their best friends.”
Photo Credit: Instagram.com / thepileaplantshop
This is where the food, drinks, and community building activities come in. They are intended to allow a diverse group of people to connect and relax with one another, all celebrating love in a different way this Valentine’s Day.
While the event is designed more for women, Herman expresses that people of all genders and relationship statuses are welcome to join the event and practice self-love.
The event takes place on February 7th from 7pm to 10pm at 31087 Mission Blvd, Hayward.
To explore other ways you can practice self-love and care this season, make sure to check out this article by OpGov.ai Reporter Sarah Denos. Alternatively, OpGov.ai Reporter Brianna Rhea provides a number of great locations to visit in San Francisco, CA. for Valentine’s Day.
If you have any questions, please email me at madison.v@lead4earth.org or comment below.
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