Why adults face Birthday Blues and how to overcome them?
I am always on my toes for the birthdays of friends/family. The reason is that it fills my heart with sheer delight to celebrate their being in my life. A delicate person who is a practitioner of gratitude is who I am. This often leads me to be more than excited for the person’s birthday than the person itself. Haha.
Birthdays. Once-a-year celebration. I love them. Be it mine or my loved ones. Cakes, balloons, ribbons, delicacies, wine, soft music, and a few loved ones. Ah, my kinda birthday.
But, I began to notice that people don’t enjoy birthday ceremonies as much as I do. The thought of it puzzled me for a while. After connecting the dots, I did realize that adulthood dawns as a nightmare each year on your birthday.
Turning old is a blessing in disguise. The age brings tremendous responsibilities, tonnes loads of work, family, and societal pressure. The realities hit maturity level and tend to sidetrack us from the joys of the world.
Birthday blues is thus a real thing. It often occurs with grown-ups who are overwhelmed even with the thought of their birthdays. Unlike childhood, birthdays seem more of an obligation than pompous gestures.
Despite having a soft corner for these festivities, I have experienced the blues on my recent birthdays. Therefore, I took the initiative to discuss this topic with my loved ones who faced similar circumstances.
After pondering on conversation, these were the key takeaways that justify birthday blues-
- Responsibility for finances and relationships
- Reduced friend circle
- Inclusion of alcohol or tobacco in party or fest
- The pressure of the day falling on a weekday hence might bother your job/days task
- Reminiscing simpler childhood times
- Inability to celebrate the day with loved ones (family/friends)
- Realizing that life is only going to get more complicated each day
- Bodily and mental fatigue becoming relevant
- Fear of getting old (for a few)
While there might be other reasons for the above birthday blues making our minds cloudy and anxious for rejoicing it. The ones mentioned above are the most common of them all.
Though the odds against us during adulthood are innumerable, I believe we can imbibe small changes in how we perceive our birthdays and anniversaries or ceremonies in general.
Honestly, I too, have been facing these birthday blues in the past 2–3 years. The thought of my birthday overwhelms me. It often leads me to curl up in bed and cut people off. Though it doesn’t take me long to get dancing on my feet and pumped up, the brevity of the shallow moment leaves behind a mark.
The following methods have resulted in being fruitful to me and my colleagues in overcoming birthday blues.
- Sign up for birthday freebies and forget about it. I bet the free spa or extra meal at the restaurant will surely get you a smile.
- Being grateful to ourselves for marking the journey of life so far.
- Making birthday an intimate affair by enjoying with family or close friends
- Thanking the ones thinking and wishing us
- By donating or doing charity
- Making the day more about ourselves. In simpler terms, doing what we love or enjoy the most.
- Dress up, eat well, dance, hug, and sing.
- Practising spiritual exercises or visting places of worship (if an athesit)
- Connect with grandparents and the youngest kid in your family. Their simplicity and naiveness will leave you in awe.
- Save for your birthday present and gift it to yourself on the day of delight. It will give you a sense of accomplishment and joy.
- Appreciate others gifts or gestures a token of kindness.
I believe, that we should grab every opportunity to rejoice and celebrate because the reasons to get low and umpteen are anyway umpteen in today’s world.
Though the blog focuses on birthdays, the rescue tips can be otherwise put to practice on any occasion wherein we might feel overwhelmed.
I would love to know about your birthday celebrations and birthdate(so that I can bother you), rescue tricks, anything, and everything. Reach out here!
Also, if the day you’re reading it happens to be your or your loved one’s birthday, HAPPYY BIRTHHDAYYY, XOXO.
