Embrace Celebration

I turned 33 this weekend and it was a good reminder that celebration can be hard (no matter how needed it is).

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.