Team Ahimsa ~ Blog Relay ~ Richard

The Worst Thing About Birthdays!

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Written For "The WDC Birthday Bash Blog Relay"  (The WDC Birthday Bash Blog Relay) Day Nine: THE BEST OR WORST THINGS ABOUT BIRTHDAYS

The worst thing about Birthdays is that too many people make them into something they aren’t. Many rue the day, avoiding it, pretending it isn’t happening. Arbitrarily allowing a calendar to dictate your mood and attitude is quite foolish. Nothing has changed since yesterday. Just another revolution around the axis that completed the latest orbit around the Sun.

Do you feel different than you did yesterday? Do your clothes still fit? Are you in the same general health? Can you still do the things you like to do? Then stop it! You aren’t getting older; you’re moving along a path, acquiring knowledge, wisdom, and experience. Hopefully, you are getting subtly better at the things you like to do and learning to cope with doing the things you have to do.

Perhaps you moved one day closer to removing obstacles that block your happiness. One day closer to closer to goals you have set. Maybe things got a bit more complicated. Still, that didn’t happen in a single day. Both growth and difficulties occur over a much more extended period. Blaming a single day is counterproductive, reeking of making excuses for not allowing yourself to move forward.

Yet, many people, especially those in my age group, treat birthdays like tolls of bell chiming years off their lives. Instead, we need to treat them for what they really are, another step forward in our journey. We need to stop looking forward to The End and start looking towards our goals and what we can still accomplish.

Not that there aren’t negatives to piling up birthdays; aches, pains, fading eyesight, and failing hearing are all hazards that face us all to some extent. BUT! Each and every birthday could signal a new signpost, a new direction, and a new chance to strive for what we want.

Instead of rueing getting older, embrace it! Think of all the things that improve with age. Fine wine, the best whiskeys, cheeses, even steak improve with aging. Why in the world do we deny ourselves the benefit of aging? Don’t hide from your birthdays. Revel in them. Let them serve as mileposts, shining beacons of where you have been. Let them lead you forward to new achievements and serve as guideposts to your continued growth.

“Age Is an Issue of Mind Over Matter. If You Don’t Mind, It Doesn’t Matter.
Mark Twain? Jack Benny? Satchel Paige? Muhammad Ali? Unknown gerontology researcher? ”

The old saw has been attributed to many different people, but it’s also a great philosophy regarding age. Keep striving forward, overcome the problems. Stay young forever or for at least for as long as you can. But don’t stop counting the years, be happy to own them. They’re precious gifts you worked hard to earn!

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