"Living everyday like it's your last day just feels like a lot of pressure." My best friend said to me as we wrote our obituaries over breakfast.
She'd read a book that advised us all to do this semi-morbid activity so we can imagine looking at our life from a rear-view mirror. When it's all said and done, what do you want it to say? What do you want to be remembered for? Who will you have been and what will you have done?
We settled on our own version of this old advice: "Live each day like it's your birthday."
To us, it felt lighter, more playful, sparklier; Like new beginnings and new fun. It felt more approachable, relatable and realistic. Besides, most've us have had a couple of birthdays, but not many of us have spent our last day living (that we know of!)!
All that is to say, here are three reasons I love this philosophy:
1. Birthdays prioritize friendships and people.
Birthdays are made special by the people in our lives. Whether they're near or far, the day you were born is a time of togetherness and social interaction. It's a time to give and receive words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, acts of service, and loving touch (notice the five love languages in there?). Birthdays are so full of love, they satiate the humanness in us that needs all of those things, but is too afraid to give or ask. Sprinkle this in daily and I promise you'll fall in love with your life.
2. Birthdays prioritize your joy.
Well, we prioritize our joy on our birthdays. On our birthday, we actually give ourselves permission to have a good time. We dance, we sing, we celebrate, we choose. We relate to the day as if it was here to bring us joy and for us to be in our most joyful state. On our birthdays, we remember that's our birthright and our natural being.
3. Birthdays make it easier to speak up.
If it's your party, you'll cry if you want to, right? Something about birthdays breeds a healthy amount (at least for my fellow people pleasers out there) of entitlement to your own domain. I get it, it helps to have a little excuse to actually ask for what you want and make yourself a priority - so just pretend. See how good it feels to actually claim your desires with a sense of celebration.
4. Birthdays make even the mundane feel a little sparklier.
You know how you dress a little nicer on your birthday? And you turn on your favorite song in the car? And you take your calls with a little more patience? On our birthdays, we add a dash of sprinkles and a pinch of glitter to everything we do. There's just an extra pep in the step. All I can see in my head as I write this is the scene from Spongebob Squarepants where Spongebob is so amped on working the nightshift at the Krusty Krab for the first time that he keeps excitedly declaring everything he's doing "at night." Ie: "I'm doing the dishes! *At night...*" "I'm using the cash register! *At night...*" "I burned my hand! *At night...*" Imagine this perspective with everything, all the time.
5. Birthdays ignite a sense of reflection, intentionality and gratitude.
Every birthday is a chance to look back at the year behind and the year to come. We make wishes, we thank our loved ones, and we allow a chance to receive. Life is always here to give to those in this state. Open up your arms and let all that magic in, consciously.
Looking to celebrate life a little more? To feel good? To speak up? To prioritize yourself and your joy? Reach me for a free 1:1 consultation. Let's set you up.
