It’s my birthday tomorrow and so I thought this was a good opportunity for me to explain why I hold birthdays in such high regard.

I have seen a lot of negative lenses that people view birthdays through:

“It’s just another day, it’s not special.”
“It’s just a reminder that I’m getting old.”

“One year closer to death!”

To name a few.

The way I see birthdays has nothing to do with a way of measuring the years I’ve spent on this planet. Really, who cares how many times I’ve circled around the sun. We have laid out time to be a practical measurement so that we can plan and recall. We don’t pay attention to the measurement of time unless we have an intentional use for it, like pinpointing a moment in history or deciding on a time for a meeting, and when we don’t pay attention to time, it easily slips away from us.

“How is it 4 o’clock already?”

“It’s been 10 years since I graduated from high school?!”

“It’s only been 2 minutes since I last checked the time. This day is so slow.”

So much of our lives is cyclical, with school and work and other priorities. So much of our lives are mundane with only a few hours after our shifts to eat, unwind, and sleep. So much of our time feels obligatory with plans made for us and events we attend for reputation or an objective. It’s easy to get comfortable in mediocrity and view life as lather, rinse, repeat.

But…

Even when our job isn’t our dream or our relationship isn’t stable or our loneliness seems everlasting or our choices tarnish our pride, good things happen. Good things happen every year. Sometimes, we create those good things and sometimes, good things are gifted to us, but good things happen. Even in the worst years of my life, there has been something good that has occurred and has been worth celebrating. Sure, there have been times where it hasn’t been readily apparent or easily recognizable, but if I think back hard and deep enough, I always manage to find evidence of good.

For me, celebrating my birthday is important because it keeps me from slipping into comfort in mediocrity. I make damn certain to make a fuss about celebrating my birthday every single year because I believe I deserve to celebrate the good. I believe I deserve one day out of every year to celebrate being me. By that, I mean, it’s not self-righteous; I wish that everyone would take their one day out of the year to celebrate being them, too. I think birthdays are a great excuse for us to celebrate our accomplishments, reflect on who we’ve become, and rejoice in who we desire to be. I think it’s important to take time away from the cyclical, the mundane, and the obligatory to recognize our value and to share the day with the people we cherish most. I look forward to my birthday every year because I’ve decided to make it something to be excited about. I can celebrate it in any way I wish, and I usually do so in a multitude of ways, but regardless on how I decide to celebrate, I make sure that I do. After all, I’ve spent my whole life creating my life. For all of us, living is a lot of work, and I think that is worth recognizing.

For me, birthdays aren’t a token of growing older or a step nearer to death, it’s a day to celebrate being alive and all that it has entailed so far. It’s a day to step back and realize that there has been a lot of good, even if I missed it at first glance. It’s a day to surround myself with the people I love most, as they are the people I live for.

Just as anything else, birthdays are what you make of them. I’ve decided for myself that birthdays are important.