Who? Today is Valentines Day; a sure fire crowd divider, some embrace it in all its heart emblazoned, sugar coated glory, whilst others shun it as an over commercialised money making scheme, and a potentially painful reminder of their current relationship status. In light of this – and following the success of Alain de Botton’s original 100 Questions cards – The School of Life have created an alternative Valentine related activity in the form of their holiday appropriate 100 Questions. Personal, thought provoking (and potentially row inducing) questions have been thought up, noted down and compiled as a handy ‘toolkit for relationships’.
"Valentines day should be a celebration of tolerance and forgiveness rather than of each others beauty and brilliance"
What? The cards bypass romance and gifts in favour of a series of discussions concerning all possible avenues in your relationship; from family baggage, to hygiene, sex and fidelity, no stone is left unturned in the quest to ‘get lovers talking to one another and their friends about who they are, who they hope to become, some of the things they secretly want, and the pleasures and sorrows of love.’
Why? Questions such as ‘When do you most love your partner?’ and ‘If you could change one thing about your partner, what would it be?’ pave the way for the relationship dissection, aiming to inspire couples, friends and family to discuss matters they would normally try to avoid for fear of an argument. The cards seem to reinforce Botton’s theory that ‘Valentine's Day should be a celebration of tolerance and forgiveness rather than of each others beauty and brilliance’, making for a much more realistic - although arguably much less romantic – Valentine's Day.
100 Questions: A Toolkit for Relationships available here
Text by Rhiannon Wastell
