People Divulge Why They Absolutely Hate Celebrating Their Birthday

It may not take a lot to develop a disdain for your day of birth. Sometimes the answer isn't as deep or complex as you might be imagining.

Time Is Always Moving

"You get older and you feel you have not accomplished anything and you seem to have wasted a year's worth of time..."

__apple_pie

"Too real. You can't lie to yourself anymore about all the cool sh!t you'll do in future, cause future has already arrived"

32987005

Wait, Wasn't It Just The Year 2000?

"A birthday is a reminder of just how short a year is. I turn 40 in October. I swear to you, I was 8 just 20 minutes ago. It literally feels like I watched a movie of my life, but I know I had to live through it. It's grim man."

The_Folly_Of_Mice

Expectations Never Met

"Most sadness and anger are caused by unmet expectations. People tend to expect their birthdays to be special and the often aren't. Further, birthdays are generally a milestone where one takes time to contemplate their general success in meeting their (and societies) expectations of their lives. Goalposts that aren't met (marriage, family, degrees, jobs, house) or are met with less success than were anticipated or hoped for (I hate this job I got a Ph.D for, my husband is annoying, my kids are brats, etc) can also cause depression.

Long and short, we tend to expect more than we get and that causes distress."

SouthernYankeeWitch

Uneventful

"i think this is the thing, every bodies birthday around me is a big deal, so i get it in my head that mine should be too. Im always disappointed when i realize nobody would want to do anything on my birthday."

hey-gift-me-da-wae

Feeling Neglected

"It's me. Idk I see people celebrating their birthdays while partying with a lot of people you know but when it's my birthday nobody remembers me. As I'm getting older I'm realizing that birthdays don't really matter."

– [deleted]

Wasted Energy

"I feel like I have to drag people to my birthday. I don't ask for presents, or a huge amount of time, just show up, eat cake, play board games. I invite folks via text like 3-4 weeks in advance."

"Still, they drag their feet replying until the day before, or just say nothing, or cancel the day of. It's really demeaning."

– Hoorizontal

More Disappointment

"For me, it just reminds me how less people care about me as the years go by. I don’t ask much on my birthday, just to spend time with people close with me eating wings, and drinking beer. The last time someone genuinely threw me a party was for my 21st birthday. From 22-26, I’ve had to be the one to ask friends if they want to hang, and it usually results with them being busy. My last 2 birthdays was just me, my son, and my girlfriend. No birthday texts from friends or family. I know it sounds self centered and all, but it just hurts the amount of effort people around me put in. Especially when I always plan to do something for their b-days."

– ZachtheKingsfan

The easiest way to trace a person's dislike for their own birthday is to look at their childhood. Odds are they either had an awful birthday that set them up for failure for the rest of their life, or they had amazing birthdays which suddenly stopped when they reached adulthood.

A Day All About You

"When I was younger, my birthday was the only day I was happy without a reason.

Now it's the opposite.

It's the grown-up curse."

Tha_Sin

"Same here. Birthdays were once a day of joy for me, but that stopped after I hit my 13th birthday. I'm 25 now and I feel dread whenever my birthday is drawing near, because they are just reminders that I'm getting older now. They make me realize how fast my life is flying by, and what makes it even worse is that I haven't accomplished much in my life. So I feel like I'm just wasting each year of my life that I can never get back."

Vinny_Lam

It's Different From How It Used To Be

"For me, it just reminds me how less people care about me as the years go by. I don't ask much on my birthday, just to spend time with people close with me eating wings, and drinking beer. The last time someone genuinely threw me a party was for my 21st birthday. From 22-26, I've had to be the one to ask friends if they want to hang, and it usually results with them being busy. My last 2 birthdays was just me, my son, and my girlfriend. No birthday texts from friends or family. I know it sounds self centered and all, but it just hurts the amount of effort people around me put in. Especially when I always plan to do something for their b-days."

ZachtheKingsfan

Raise Your Hand If You Hate The Birthday GIFs...

"When I was a kid it seemed like everyone rallied together to make your day special. Cards came in the mail from relatives, your name was up on a bulletin board at school, and everyone got excited. Your age felt like a new milestone to be proud of.

As an adult you go to work that day (someone might ask if you have any plans to celebrate later), you clean the kitchen, a relative or friend will text a birthday GIF..."

Then there's these people, who have absolutely understandable reasons to not like their day of birth. They've done enough soul searching to discover that perhaps their birthday isn't a day of celebration but a day to fear.

All By Myself

"Yes. No friends and hyped up expectations then you realise no one really cares about it to do anything thoughtful."

Libratree

"Definitely this!! The loneliness and disappointment that comes from u having the courage to finally anticipate for something again, only to be let down once more"

yelxel26

People Have Slipped Away

"I'm a pretty outwardly unemotional guy but I cry every year on my birthday. It's an overt reminder that I'm getting older and I'm not quite where I want to be. I end up mourning the different people I've been and groups I've been a part of that are all gone. I rarely have anyone to celebrate with and it's a very sad day."

Churchy_La_Femme

"I cry every year too haha. It makes me feel better to know that it's a privilege to grow older, as there are many people that unfortunately didn't get that experience!"

kkxoo

Older Perspective

"Now that I'm in my late 30s, it's starting to hit differently. As a kid, you envision the years stretching endlessly. Then at a certain point, you realize how quickly the years are passing and it begins to feel like the blink of an eye."

– nate6259

Just A Reminder Of Something Worse

"My dad died on my birthday so... yeah. Pretty sh-tty day every year."

raspberrygoat

"I'm sorry :( sending you good vibes, he'd want you to be happy on your birthday!"

kkxoo

Falling Short Of Expectations

"Come and gone. When I graduated high school I told myself I was going to stop being depressed, be graduated and have a great job at 21, enough to move to another country."

"25, ultra sh*t job, just finishing college, still in my bum ass country, super duper depressed."

– Moonguide

Collective Sense Of Sadness

"I didn’t start feeling sad on my bday until my 20s. I feel as though now, I am a constellation of everyone I have met, loved, and lost. My birthday is the yearly reminder that I made it another year, but I feel sadness when I reflect on my friends or former friends who didn’t. I also feel a bit of sadness when I picture where I thought I’d be at my age versus where I am. As a little girl, 25-30 seemed old. So naturally, I thought I’d be married, have kids, etc. The reality is, I’m happily living alone with my cat and have a great job. No reason to be sad, but it creeps up. I also cry over the fact that I never became a pop star because 6 year old me thought I would. But alas, I am tone deaf and cannot dance."

– missmeowwww

It's okay to dislike your birthday. What feels like something far off in the distance, waiting for your arrival, is suddenly right at your feet.

You can feel like time is slipping, but a better way to think about it is you've made it around the sun one more time.

After the year we've all had, maybe that's the right way to start thinking about everything.

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