Today my son is celebrating his 11th birthday. Seeing him so happy, it maybe worth to share some thought regarding this birthday celebration.
Why we need to celebrate our birthday? Most of us feel special on our birthday. We feel special as a person. Happy that we continue to grow and live a good life, and feel grateful for all the blesses that given to us ; family, friends, good health, wonderful career, etc.
As a parent I want to give my kids same feeling on their birthday. Good memories, the happy ones, are things that last long even though we might not be with them anymore. I want my kids to feel happy when they look at their birthday pictures, with family and friends. This is to show that we are remembering their birthday and always appreciating their life and growth as a person.
Big religions like Islam or Christian also celebrate the birthday of the prophets. In Islam, we celebrate Maulid Nabi. X-Mas celebration actually also being done on the birth date of Yesus Christ. Moslems and Christians appreciate the life of our prophets by celebrating their Birthday. And this is a very good example that we should also appreciating our life.
Nowadays, many of us are very busy. Either by working hard in corporate system, studying hard to get a good grade, or even busy managing household everyday. People are easy to get stress, anxiety, and depression because we ignore who we are, and start living to please others. And this habits cascade down to our children. We need to guide our children to strengthen their inner strength so they don’t have issue in mental health. Yesterday we also have World Mental Health Days to raise awareness about this matter.
Birthday Celebration is one of the tools that we can use for reminding us that our life is special. Every one start with zero and growth further to become better version of our true self. Even though we had failures, mistakes, dark times, or wrong turns as long as we live and breath we can always retry to start over again.
So celebrating Birthday is not about throwing big or grand party, or buying fancy gifts. It’s a time for us to feel special and appreciating our life. Once a year at least we need to have that moment, to feel special and happy about our growth.
So in my own conclusion Birthday is our Personal New Year, to be a better version of our true self. And this message need to be cascade down to our children. Cheers !
