My Birthday Wish

Every year, my birthday is the best day of my life.  I think everyone’s birthday should be the best day of their year.  It’s a time to celebrate the day you were born.

I know that some people don’t like their birthdays.  They don’t like the fuss, the presents, the smiles and the cheers.  I know because I live with one. But there’s no reason you can’t have an inner party for yourself – to celebrate you, all the people you have in our life, and all that you have accomplished.  You can find reasons to celebrate if you only look.

At least one person loved you enough to bring you into this world, and chances are, there were a lot more than that who were looking forward to your arrival.  That day, your life was filled with promise, hope, and the belief that anything was possible.

Maybe in the years that followed afterwards, things didn’t always turn out the way you wanted.  Maybe you had years that totally sucked.  Maybe you’re having one of those days, weeks, years now.  Here’s the good news – you didn’t stay that crying, pooping, incapable baby.  You grew.  You got smarter.  You figured some shit out.

So every year on my birthday, I pretend I’m that little pink, wrinkly, placenta wrapped baby (metaphorically speaking of course) that has all that unlimited potential.  Every birthday is a chance to reflect on where your life has been for the last year, what you’d like it to look like for the next, who you want to spend it with, and what you want to spend it doing.

Here are my Birthday Rules I never break:

1. Carry an umbrella. For some reason, it always rains on my birthday
2. NEVER work on your birthday. (I only broke this rule once to present at a conference)
3. 1. The only exception is if your co-workers are throwing you a party
4. Always treat yourself to something nice. I am writing this post half asleep after spending the last few hours at the spa (more on that in a later post)
5. Spend it with the people you love. I used to have big parties where I invited everyone I ever knew.  I never had enough time to talk to everyone and just spent the time worrying about if there was enough dip.  Make sure everyone you spend your special day with, is special to you.
6. Pay for your friends. It’s your day to celebrate – give something back to the people who are spending time to celebrate with you.
7. Spend some time reflecting.

This year I reflected on why I started this blog in the first place.  I remembered that I had a dream – to travel the world – to see, touch, climb, eat, walk, do – everything new. And to bring all of it back, to write about my adventures and share them with everyone. To make people laugh, wince, cry, love, think, and experience.

I unfortunately stopped writing almost a year ago.  I thought it was because maybe I hadn’t been on an adventure in a while.  And now I remember why I wanted to start my blog in the first place – because life itself is the adventure.  Every day, every experience, everyone that you meet has the chance to be something new, something exciting, something to learn and to share.

So for this birthday, I’m reigniting my life adventure. I promise myself to see each day as such. I promise to write more often.  I promise to live up to the potential my wet, crying, wrinkled baby self once had.

And so my birthday wish for all of you, is that you make your life an adventure, that you live and breathe it.  That you remember your tiny self, and all your potential (minus the shits and drooling).  And this year or next, on your birthday, you wipe the slate clean of all your mistakes, celebrate all the great things, and make the next year the best you’ve ever had.