Why it is important to LOVE your birthday

It’s my birthday today!  There’s only one day a year when I truly feel free to toot my own horn and it’s on my birthday.  It’s the day when I feel like I am Queen of the world.  I don’t even mind that I am 46, in fact I am ecstatic about it!  And even better, (I actually feel really special about this) it is my husband’s birthday too – he is 45.  How small would the odds be that you meet the person who complements you the most… and you find out you were both born on the same day.

So why do I think it’s so important to love your birthday?

As I’ve become older I have become less and less tolerant of birthday-moaners.  ‘Another year older, another year deeper in debt’ is a saying I have heard.  ‘Don’t get old, it’s horrible’ – true quote from an acquaintance.  And then there are those who do not like acknowledging their birthday, do not like celebrating it because they are ‘getting older’.  I actually get really grumpy at this attitude and I have been known to say ‘it’s better than the alternative’, because it is!  If you are complaining about turning another year older, you are effectively saying ‘being dead would be better’.  I know that sounds shocking, but it is the absolute truth!

There will be many, many people who died at a certain age who wished that they could have celebrated an older birthday.  There are people who have a life-threatening disease who pray that they get to their next birthday.

Look at the fact that the age we are is a miracle of nature and good luck that we have not had a fatal accident or been diagnosed with a terminal illness.  Maybe then we might treat our time as precious.  Maybe if we could have known if we were ever seconds away from tragedy, Sliding Doors style, we might live every day with reverence.

So please, I beg you, love the age you are!  Celebrate your birthday with child-like enthusiasm!

Here are all the reasons why it is fantastic to love your birthday:

This one bears repeating: you are Queen for the day.

You may be lucky enough to receive cards and presents from people who care about you.

A nice dinner is probably on the cards.

The whole day feels like you are floating along on pink candyfloss.

You can legitimately buy yourself a gift.

Everyone is nice to you on that day.

You are in a good mood all day and that makes others in a good mood, even if they don’t know it is your birthday.

It is your own personal new year where you have a fresh slate available to you.

And I am sure there are millions of other good reasons to love your birthday.

What if you feel like you are not where you would like to be though?  What if you feel like you are not in the best shape you could be, are broke or single…?

I can tell you that my 30^th birthday was not my most stellar.  When I was younger, I thought that when I turned 30 everything would be fabulous.  My 30^th fell in the year 2000 which had a magical ring to it – a new century, and I imagined that I would have everything I desired – happily married with kids and a lovely home.

My 30^th did not quite look like that.  I ‘celebrated’ in a restaurant in my hometown with my parents, nana, aunty and uncle, newly divorced and with my life only recently turned upside down by that.  You can see now why I put celebrated in inverted commas.

Yes, it was quite a sucky birthday, but guess what?  Things could only improve from there, and they did.  At that time, I went by the mantra ‘living well is the best revenge’ and determined that I would only get better with age.

And I am pleased to say that I am getting better and better with every year.  I am focused on being healthier, having more fun, and definitely being happier.  And each year just compounds the goodness, how excellent is that!

Have I brainwashed you yet?

I’d love you to contribute your favourite reason to love your birthday, why you love your birthday or your favourite way of treating yourself on your birthday.

Birthdays go from something that we look forward to for months and shout from the rooftops when we are younger, to something that we hide away and are ashamed of when we are older.  I want that to change!  Vive le birthday, I say.  Who’s with me?