This past week I celebrated my birthday with all my wonderful friends—despite that is was a major holiday weekend. Much to my amazement, about forty of my “besties” came out to share in the festivities of becoming another year older. For me, birthdays are always a mixture of fun and self-reflection—a sort of personal “New Year’s Eve” when I reflect upon what happened during the past year of my life and what I’d like to do differently going forward.
While this is how I personally approach my birthdays, I know that sometimes as we get older, we may come to dread our birthdays saying: “No, not again!” or “Ugh, am I really another year older?” I’ve been guilty of this too. That is until a wise friend once told me that she celebrates her birthday for an entire month—not just one day! What an awesome way to bring more joy into your life. A thought then occurred to me: Why celebrate our birthdays only once a year or even for an entire month? Taking this one step further, I say, let’s celebrate birthdays all year long!
In my last post, I talked about the idea to give thanks every day for your blessings. With this in mind, perhaps we can celebrate each day as a birthday gift, commemorating the day God breathed life into us. I recall many years ago watching Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. In the film, Murray’s character, Phil Connors, wakes up every day to the same day: Groundhog Day. He quickly realizes this strange phenomenon and then chooses to live each day completely differently. At first, he is arrogant and angry, even choosing to end his life a few times, knowing it would only be temporary. However, after living the same day over and over, he finally makes peace with himself and wakes up to enjoy his special day with excitment and appreciation—thus breaking the cycle.
This made me think: What if I treated each day of my life as a special gift and celebrated something good that happened that day? Would I then attract more good into my life by my positive actions? I ask you to consider making every day your birthday—and celebrating that fact that you are alive and truly blessed with the opportunities that arrive daily. Pretty soon, your positive attitude will attract more positive things, and you may even chuckle to yourself when you wake up each morning and say, “Let’s celebrate birthdays all year long!”
Today, I choose to take a moment to celebrate one wonderful accomplishment or experience that has happened to me. This may be something small or it may be a momentous event, but I will be proud to celebrate each and every day that God has given me as a fresh start—my birthday. Let the celebration begin! XO Shari
