Birthday note to my younger self

I'm 25 years old now. Damn, I've lived quite a long life - and I'm very happy with my journey so far.

I wanna talk about "birthday". I've kept my birthday private for many years now. I don't tell people when my birthday is. I turned off birthday notification on each of my social media accounts. I just don't really like to be the center of attention and getting a lot of birthday wishes from people that I barely recognize.

I remember when I was a teenager, I would really get upset if people forgot about my birthday or if it was not celebrated. We grew up watching TV where protagonists have these birthday surprises and celebrations from a bunch of family members and friends, and that's how you know you are living a good life.

I've come to a realization that birthdays are overrated. I wish I could go back to my 15 years old self and tell her this:

You cannot judge your value as a person based on how you are being treated on one single day. Being a good person does not mean getting various birthday bashes. It's not measured by how many people who remember your birthdays. It's measured by kindness and how you treat other people in all 365 days in a year. It's measured by the effort and time you are putting to sustain the valuable relationship you have with your friends and family throughout the year.

It's not wrong that you want to feel special on your birthday. Then again, it's a reminder of how long you've lived and learned and grown as an individual. But feeling special does not have to come in the form of affirmation from others. Your feeling is internal, and you have as much authority and power as other people to control it. Do yourself a favor - try the hairstyle you've always been dying to get but were always afraid to do so; put off your diet and have a delicious meal (and buy a cake too if you want!); do an unexpected trip to an island you've always dreamed to visit.

Don't expect from other people if you are not even investing the energy and time to create a plan to make yourself happy. Do you know what you'll be doing in 10 years to celebrate your birthday? You'll clean up your room, have a good dinner with special people, and write a blog to remind yourself how far you've come. You'll nail it.

xx,

Cass