THERE’S MORE TO BIRTHDAYS THAN JUST PARTIES AND PRESENTS
December is always the time of year when I write about birthdays, as I celebrate my own within that month.
Whenever it’s my birthday I never take the day for granted, and I’m consistently sure to make the most of those 24 hours. Far too many people dismiss those feelings of looking forward to their birthday as merely being childish. However presents, parties and cakes (despite being pleasant to experience) only form the tip of the iceberg, in regard to what our birthdays truly are about.
Each and every person has a special calendar date that is their own personal New Year’s Day (whether or not it’s on January the 1st). Our birth is what begins our existence, and all subsequent birthdays occur to celebrate everything that we attain in each year of our life. Candles to blow out on a cake represent the “suns” of which we’ve earned at that given time. Then we must make a wish that we hope to attain by our next birthday.
Every time it’s December the 11th I do enjoy receiving cards and presents, though I also spend a lot of the day reflecting upon the previous twelve months, and reminding myself to feel proud of all the positive things that I’ve achieved. It doesn’t matter how big or small they appear to be in other people’s eyes. After all, our birthdays are a personal celebration. So it’s important for us to solely acknowledge achievements which give ourselves happiness.
Even challenging experiences can be blessings in disguise. Despite being painful whilst going through them, at the end of it all they do teach us the best life lessons. For example, the previous twelve months have been stressful for me, due to a very difficult (and drawn out) family matter. In addition to that, there were multiple deaths within my circle, across the months of 2025.
Therefore, life has truly stretched me to the limit from December 2024-December 2025, and I’ve had a fair few intense meltdowns as a result. Bouts of insomnia and nightly sleep paralysis episodes (caused by excessive stress) have also been challenging.
Yet whilst I’m now reflecting upon all of that, I’m able to see that those experiences have given me a lot of help in becoming more emotionally resilient. They’ve also taught me a lot when it comes to understanding and coping with intense emotions (which I’ve always struggled with doing due to my autism).
Becoming a year older often makes people uncomfortable and fearful. But gaining an additional year is in truth a great honour, and maturity is not something of which we should take for granted. As we grow older our health does gradually decline, yet our wisdom and level of experience only grows stronger.
So instead of fearing our elderly selves as being unwell wrecks, we must instead imagine ourselves growing into distinguished senior citizens of society, who will be deserving of great respect. The reason for that is because personal life experiences teach us far more than any other resource can.