Beating the Birthday Blues
Be comfortable with the fact you’re getting older. One of the reasons you may be upset during your birthday is growing up and getting older, but know that other people feel the same way. Rather than focus on how fast you’re aging, shift your focus to how much you’ve enjoyed the past year of your life. That way, you can realize how much you’ve grown and matured mentally and emotionally.
2Realize that it’s okay if you don’t have a big celebration for your birthday. Some people build their birthdays up as the most special day of the year, but they feel disappointed if that doesn’t happen. Don’t set your expectations high on your birthday, but be happy about the little things that happen throughout the day. Don’t feel pressured to have a big celebration so you can still enjoy small parties or get-togethers when they happen.
- Treat your birthday like any other day of the week to help keep your expectations low. That way if someone does go out of their way to do something, you’ll feel more surprised.
3Mention your birthday a few weeks in advance if you want others to remember. Unless you always spend your time with close friends, people may not even know it’s your birthday. A few weeks before your special day, hint that your birthday is coming up so people don’t forget about it. Don’t try to force your birthday into a conversation or mention that you want gifts, or else it could make other people feel like you’re expecting something from them.
- For example, you may say something like, “Oh I was going to go see that movie in a few weeks on my birthday,” or, “That reminds me that I need to plan dinner for my birthday.”
4Stay busy with activities to distract yourself from feeling sad. If you’re feeling down on your birthday, try to plan multiple activities to do throughout the day so you have something to look forward to. Get outside, visit new places, or watch movies so you stay distracted. You may also reach out to friends and ask them to spend time with you on your birthday so you aren’t thinking about why you’re feeling sad.
- Do something that you normally would do to relax to make it easier to clear your mind.
5Make goals that you want to achieve in the next year. Rather than looking back at the things you didn’t accomplish in the past year, start a list of goals that you want to achieve before your next birthday. Make sure the goals you set are achievable within the next year so you don’t feel down when your birthday comes around the following year. Once you have your goals, start working toward them immediately so you can get a head start.
- For example, your goals could be getting better grades in school, making more art, writing a story, or visiting someplace you haven’t been before.
- Write down your goals in multiple places so you’re reminded about them regularly.
Buy yourself a special gift to treat yourself on your birthday. Even though it’s your birthday, you shouldn’t expect gifts from other people. If you want something special for yourself, get something that you want that’s within your budget so you can celebrate. Make sure that you get something that you haven’t told your parents or friends that you wanted, since it could be possible they got it for you already.