A Happier Birthday?


A recent article claims that we are more likely to have a heart attack on our birthday than on any other day of the year, apparently because we view the day as a negative. Funny...I mostly view birthdays as just another day of the year unless it's a milestone birthday- divisible by 10 for example.

I'm always a bit baffled when people say 'wouldn't it be great to be 18 again (or 25 or 30 or 50)?' I have absolutely no desire to return to a previous age, I want to be exactly how old I am right now! And even though I'm a bit more tempted when the person adds 'if you could go back knowing what you know now' I still have a strong no response. I don't want to reexperience my earlier life from the perspective I've gained during and since that time. I don't want to give up the wonder of naivete, or the fun of not knowing but plunging ahead anyway. And I surely don't want to forgo the progression of experience and understanding that comes from the various stages of life.

I will turn 50 in 6 months and I find that baffling (as I say to friends- how can I be turning 50 when I'm still just 25?), exciting (what will it be like to become older? I'm beginning to feel the physical effects of aging and I'm on my second prescription for reading glasses), scary (I've begun thinking of how and when I'll die- probably doesn't help that my partner is a palliative care nurse!), and precious (each age that I experience has it's own lessons, it's own feel and structure and gifts).

Birthdays are generally neither positive nor negative to me, although when I'm in a period of rapid growth or challenge I tend to view birthdays as especially positive. That particular day of the year becomes a reminder to reflect on my life: to ponder whether I wish to continue on the path I'm choosing; to reassess and choose another; or to fine-tune the one I choose to remain on.

As I've said in other blogs, we truly have only this moment. Birthdays help me to remember that and to focus on what really matters.