Embracing Celebration

It’s weird as an adult to say that birthdays are important to you. But they are to me. I’ve written about it a lot over the last ~decade~ that I’ve been blogging.

There are few times as an adult that you get to be celebrated, especially if you’re not going down the traditional route of getting married and having children. Our society tends to celebrate those milestones more than others. People also seem to believe that adults should grow out of celebrating their birthdays. Because apparently being grateful that you’re alive and celebrating with your loved ones is something that only silly children do?

On pretty much every birthday post I’ve ever written, there is the inevitable comment from someone who doesn’t like celebrating their birthday because it’s hard seeing themselves grow older. And I get that. Men are allowed to age in our society. Women aren’t. So it can be difficult to celebrate yourself as you age.

At the same time however, if you don’t get to celebrate your birthday, it’s because you’re no longer with us. And I’d rather celebrate getting wrinkly and old than not be able to celebrate at all.

I turned 33 over the weekend. Normally, I love birthdays. Especially my own (I am a Leo after all, I can’t help it). This year though, I really struggled to enjoy myself.

It was not for lack of exciting things to do. My fiancé loves celebrating. His love language is gift giving and boy did he deliver. He took me to see my first Broadway show in NYC (Good Night, Oscar was truly incredible and Sean Hayes is a marvel), we went out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants, and we took our new pup to a dog beach down the Jersey shore. (Spoiler, Junior hated the water, but it was so cute to see him swimming).

I did try my best to enjoy myself, but I struggled a little bit this whole weekend.

I think it’s because, despite my love of celebrating birthdays, I’ve never actually gotten to do it with someone who loved it as much as I do. It can be overwhelming to be celebrated by others. Like you didn’t do anything to deserve it. It feels too hot in the spotlight. And you feel like you should have achieved something to deserve their love and praise.

But you don’t. You don’t need to be anyone except for yourself to be deserving of people to love you and show that they love you (however they choose to do that).

It turns out that I’m not very good at being loved or celebrated. It’s something that I’m working on. And something that my lovely fiancé isn’t going to let me out of anytime soon.

If you struggle to enjoy your birthday or find yourself not want to be celebrated or in the spotlight, take a deep breath. I know it feels uncomfortable. But you don’t need to ‘do’ anything to deserve the celebration of your family and friends. Your very existence on this planet is enough. You just have to start believing it.

If you’re celebrating your birthday this month, I wish you the happiest of birthdays. You deserve it.

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About the Author: Britt is the blogger behind Tiny Ambitions. She’s a minimalist, simple living advocate and ginger cat enthusiast.