Birthdays are normally a time of celebrations and happiness, but I just don’t find them fun. Some people don’t like birthdays because it reminds them that they are getting older, and they realize their own mortality, but that isn’t why I don’t like them. I don’t like the social aspect of them. Birthdays mean I get texts from people that I haven’t heard from since my last birthday and won’t get another text from them until my next birthday, and yeah it only takes a second or two to respond to the text, but that’s a second or two I could be doing something else with.
I also don’t like the attention that birthdays get. I don’t really like to be the center of attention and birthdays put you at the center of attention. When people are hanging out with you on your birthday, whether intentional or not, there is this feeling of having to do what the person with the birthday wants, and I don’t like that.
I also don’t like celebrating other people’s birthdays. I know that makes me sounds like a bad friend, and maybe I’m not a traditionally good friend. I will always message a friend on their birthday but other than that, I don’t really do anything else. Sometimes I’ll hang out with people, but we don’t really do anything, just play video games and talk. Even with just hanging out and playing video games there is still that feeling of having to play whatever game the person with the birthday wants.
The last part of birthdays I don’t like is gifts. I don’t like giving gifts and I don’t like getting gifts. Giving gifts has always been hard for me. Some people are really good at it, and they will always know what to get someone, but I am not that type of person. I never know what to get someone. On the other end, getting gifts also sucks. The first reason is that a gift creates an obligation. If someone gives you a gift, you should get that person a gift when their birthday comes around. Also getting a bad gift sucks. You have to pretend like you like it, and you feel bad for not liking it. Birthdays are supposed to be fun and enjoyable, but they just aren’t for me.
Mark Warren can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @MarkWarren1832