Birthdays are important because they give everyone a day to feel special and see how much those around them love them. Many cultures say that your birthday is more than just a special day of the year.
Horoscopes are based on the position of the stars and planets at your time of birth and many people believe that your horoscope can tell you a great deal about your personality and fate. Based on your birth year you are also assigned an animal from the Chinese zodiac, a lunar calendar. Many cultures celebrate birthdays with fun traditions that help bind families and cultures together as everyone participates in the festivities. It can be difficult to remember every birthday.
Social media platforms like Facebook have made it a little easier with their notifications. Learn how to download birthdays from Facebook here.
Write the birthdays of your friends and family on a calendar and keep this calendar from year to year. This perpetual calendar will help you keep all your birthdays in one place. You can also print off generic calendars from the internet and save yourself a trip to the store. This method is similar to the perpetual calendar method described above. The difference is that instead of displaying this calendar on the wall, you can write the birthdays in a notebook and carry the notebook with you or keep it somewhere accessible.
With these digital calendars you can receive notifications of the birthday event the day of. However, some drawbacks to using digital calendars is that if you want to keep track of a lot of birthdays, this might crowd your calendar and make it difficult to visualize the other personal events you keep track of on your calendar. Depending on which digital calendar you pick, you might also have limited options about what kind of notifications you receive and how far in advance those notifications are.
Of course, there are more imaginative ways to celebrate, although that then puts you under pressure to find something exciting and different. Probably one of the best reasons not to celebrate your birthday is that it can be very expensive! Even going out to dinner can be pricey when you factor in the cost of dinner, drinks, taxis and babysitters.
Whenyou think about it, what is the point of birthdays anyway? I firmly believe that the date on your birth certificate only has a meaning if you allow it to. I refuse to have anything to do with my biological age! So it marks days or in leap years since your last birthday — so what? The important things in life are usually more than a day of one-off celebrations. Sure, all of us lead busy lives and our birthday is probably one of the only times others might be willing to make some time for us — which is nice.
There are also other reasons to not celebrate our birthday, albeit trivial reasons that make us want to avoid the fact our birthday is our birthday.
Consequently, no reason why some of us would rather spend our birthdays alone and not mention it. The way we feel about our birthdays can change over time. What we do for our birthday or how we think about our birthday can change as we get older or go through different phases in life.
At different times of our lives different things will be important to us. Research suggests that young children believe birthday parties cause ageing; the more birthday parties one has, the older they seem.
Birthdays are almost always occasions where relationships collide. On our birthdays, sometimes we just want to belong. That said, it is nice or creepy when someone thinks of us on our birthday no matter how much we avoid celebrating or acknowledging it, and thinking of us any other time really. At the end of the day, most of us want to belong at least for a moment, even the birthday Grinchs among us.
On self-realisation, host and Youtuber Chris Burkmenn said:. I really do like a quiet birthday. Being the practical person that I am, no one owes me their time unless they absolutely want to be around me and persist with wanting to be around me — and when that happens I will show them a good time…even on my birthday. I do like thinking of something I can accomplish to mark the year or especially the decade. I hope your birthday was a day of love and joy. Like Liked by 1 person.
That impromptu restaurant birthday celebration. My birthday this year was an ordinary day, nice and quiet. Like Like. I am too not very fancy about celebrating birthday.
To me, whenever I buy a new dress or have a dinner date or I get any gifts from my loved ones, it is a birthday for me.. LOL I like your definition of birthdays. Any day can be a birthday for you. Besides, my sisters are both elsewhere in the province where I live.
Sorry to hear what you have to go through, and hope things pick up from here. The simple things are always worth celebrating, even quietly in our minds — by just being thankful. Used to just book a table at a favourite cafe and usually had about 23 people.
Each paid for their own meal and drinks and often there were new comers so it was a great catch up for everyone. Guessing that you might also be Taurus? It is very nice of you to organise a lunch for orphans around your birthday. A very kind gesture too.
Not all of us are as fortunate as each other in some ways. That said, it sure beats not having a birthday at all! Sounds like you know how you like your quiet birthdays, Tina.
First of all, let me wish you a belated happy birthday Mabel, and hope that the year is a fruitful one for you. I am totally in sync when you say that the way we feel about our birthdays can change over time. I remember in school and college I used to have that special feeling on my birthday and used to be excited about celebrating my birthday but since the last few years, I have even turned off the notification of my birthday on FB. Now, I do not feel that the occasion calls for a celebration as it is just another day and prefer a quiet birthday.
So I can imagine your discomfort with people singing happy birthday to you. You are very kind, Somali. Thank you very much for your well-wishes. Agree with you on quiet birthdays. Just another day, another day to be thankful for. It becomes less of a big deal as we grow older, but unless we are the enviable hermit out in the Himalayas, it is still nice to be thought of on that day. But respect your wishes I shall, refraining from the happy belated chorus! It IS nice to be thought of, any time, any day — it means you are important to someone to some degree.
Small gestures are usually the gestures coming from right within you, and are very special. Thanks, D. But then when it comes to my own birthday I feel like I should at least be entitled to do it my own way after all it is MY birthday, right? Maybe also uncaring and self-centred. So much of this post is so me. Anytime I am supposed to be happy, I am super nervous.
Just adds to the stress and anxiety for me. It IS nice to be remembered but if it puts you in a non-desired state, maybe a quite acknowledgement and moving along helps. I think many of your ideas about celebrating birthdays are very sound. I, too, believe that these Happy Birthday wishes are not always sincere.
Very fine blog. Spanish Dance Artist. So hard to tell these days if birthday wishes are sincere. I suppose if you know the person well, then maybe. Thank you for your nice words and for stopping by. Oh, so glad I saw this post. I think as a child, the idea of my BIRTH day was so special, that no matter what my parents did to celebrate it, the day would be disappointing. So I urged them to not celebrate it.
How weird is that?? As I got older my wonderful friends celebrated my bd with wonderful one-on-one lunches. All nice, but really, I was uncomfortable. So I prefer none. But for my kids and now grandkids sake, I grin and bare it when they make a big deal. That said, Happy Birthday to you, Mabel. I like how you describe the day we come to Earth — coming to this space in the universe, which is essentially coming into this space from another space and having an impact where we are.
It is weird that you were disappointed with your birthdays as a child. You are very patient grinning and bearing it for your friends and family on your birthday. And I have friends who revel in their own birthdays, making the celebrations go on for weeks! In reality, celebrating that each day of our life is a gift is a good way to go. Each day is a celebration.
As a younger version of myself, I used to enjoy my birthday and celebrating it. Not really. I prefer a quiet day, without a fuss. Too many of those I had Loved are no longer here who used to celebrate my birthday so when my birthday does come around I feel especially sad and really missing them. I also try very hard not to focus on the number associated with my age.
I honestly cannot believe how old I am! I totally enjoyed your post, Mabel. FYI …. I too am a Taurus. Great write!!
Thank you! I am sorry to hear that your recent birthdays were disappointing. Those who are no longer here would probably be silently watching over you on your birthday, and a quiet day and birthday can be a meaningful.
Happy birthday to you, Amy. Lovely to know a fellow Taurean too. Happy birthday to you, too, Mabel! Mabel, what an unusual title for an article — why NOT to celebrate a birthday. So fun. My favorite: 7, recognizing that life is more than just the single day. Your mention of having a birthday that falls on a public holiday reminds me of my own situation, in which my mom and I share a birthday.
Since it seemed to mean more to her than I. In fact, I thought having an August birthday was exotic and would have loved that! But that can be any day but most days we are caught up in the routine…. Not every day you hear someone who shares the same birthday as their mum.
Like Liked by 2 people. Oh, what a lovely idea, having friends and family celebrate the days together. I will keep that in mind, Mabel! Have a fun week! The weekend is finally here. Half over for us here in Australia. Such delicious images, Mabel! If more family happen to be around, it can also be very enjoyable. It does sound like you will be very spoilt for your upcoming birthday, Sylvia. It was his first birthday and we wanted to make it special.
Also, he proved to be a fighter on the day he was born when his heart rate dropped rapidly at birth and the doctors and nurses had to perform CPR for min to revive him. And for that reason, it is quite the celebration of life and it is worth rejoicing. I loved this post. Birthdays to me, is a day to reflect upon life and myself a few questions, maybe over a small meal at my favourite restaurant.
I love to celebrate it that way. This way I go into the next day rejuvenated. Thanks, Stephan. I like how you think about birthdays. You said it. We should be nice to people all the time. No excuses, and that will make the world a better place.
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