Birthdays. Bah, humbug you may say. I’m just getting a year older and certainly not as much wiser as I had hoped. For you, you may not want to celebrate your birthday. You may not want a big 30th birthday bash, or a 40th birthday party geared at cheering you up. You may have lost hope that for our birthday celebration this year, you’ll get some cool gifts from best friends, or even a fun birthday gift from a relative.
Have you really lost sight of the spirit of your birthday? It’s not about whether you’re getting older, it’s about celebrating the fact that you were born. Forget about how many awful birthday celebrations you’ve had, and who showed up and who didn’t. Forget about past year disappointments.
Maybe you just broke up with your girlfriend, or called off your wedding. Maybe you lost your best friend. Maybe your birthday reminds you of an event from your past, one you would rather not recall. Whatever the case, don’t let it get you down and ruin your birthday celebration. Do it yourself, and make it happen!
You have the opportunity once each year to truly celebrate yourself. It’s the anniversary of you, the time of year of your coming into the world. So, have some fun! Do something unique for yourself for your birthday. Get motivated!
1. The best thing to do for yourself for your birthday is to get away from your present surroundings. Step out of the humdrum of daily living and create some excitement. If you have a fall birthday, this means you get to enjoy autumn. So, go somewhere there are mountains and trees and waterfalls, by yourself, and just take in the view. The fall leaves and fall colors changing can’t be more beautiful than any other season. Even if you have to drive 100 miles to reach the mountains, do it.
2. Find old friends. Go back into the past and pull some of your old best friends out of your hat. It really isn’t that difficult to do. You can use myspace.com to look up the old friend’s name. Interestingly enough, at least 20 people I used to know have found me on myspace since I joined last year. Or, you could use classmates.com to find people from your school that you graduated with. You might even try just dialing up the old number still saved in your cell phone since 2001.
3. Find undiscovered relatives. Everyone has some relatives they don’t know about. I just found out recently I had two awesome second cousins around my age, that are both very fun and interesting! All it took was a 65th wedding anniversary of my grandparents to discover some incredible new people! Talk to your aunt, your grandparents, to find out about some relatives you have never met. If you have a big family, there may be more people than you even realize! Chances are, they’ll also be dying to meet you!
4. Visit the country of your birth or origin. Okay, this may cost a bit more than is in your budget, but if you can afford it, do it! You’ll feel this sense of connection to the world. I visited Europe last year around the time of my birthday, and it was awesome. I went to England, Germany and Switzerland, all places of my origin from distant generations back. It was incredible to know that I was near places my ancestors had been over 200 years ago!
5. Do something you have never done before. For me, I have never been to a museum, other than the Smithsonian museums in Washington, DC, or the local art museum in Hagerstown, MD. So I could visit a new museum, perhaps make a trip to Pennsylvania to find one. I also have never snowtubed. I always thought this would be fun. What have you never done?
6. Be something you haven’t been before, just for a day. If you always tend to like sports and go to sporting events, try liking books and visiting a library. If you always are on the internet, try and get out and party with the rest of the crowd! Change it up, and be different. You could find that you actually enjoy it!
7. Think of one dream that you have, or one you lost sight of, and take one step towards accomplishing it. If you have always wanted to be a rockstar, go to karaoke and actually get up and sing. If you want to be a race car driver, go find some gokarts and get in and go! Or, do some research about what your first steps would be and take them. For a racecar driver, you might first have to take certain lessons at a local track. Go find your nearest speedway and sign up!
8. Visit your old school and talk to your favorite teachers. Depending upon what birthday anniversary you are having this year, this may be easier for some than others. I think alot of my teachers have retired since I was in school. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t find some of them at their local addresses by doing a little bit of research! I actually ran into one of my old teachers at Walmart a couple of weeks ago!
9. Think of something you have achieved lately, and celebrate it. If you finally got over your old girlfriend, or you lost that last ten pounds that just stuck around forever, celebrate this. This means get all dressed up and take yourself out to dinner, out to a movie, and to a local dance club. If anyone asks what you’re doing, you’re celebrating an accomplishment, and your birthday. Just wear a big smile and noone will look at you weird for being by yourself. And, you’ll probably run into some people you know who will end up joining you anyway.
10. Go to your favorite place. Where is it that you really feel at home? Is it a waterfall at the lake? A certain tree you rest against while hiking? Go there, and sit and enjoy the day. It’ll do your soul wonders. For me, one of my favorite places is Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees. So, for four years back from 1998 to 2002, I took myself to Yankee stadium to see the Yankees in the World Series. Yes, it cost a pretty penny, but it was worth every one of them.
