• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Advertising
  • Join PGM
Pepperdine Graphic

Pepperdine Graphic

  • COVID-19
  • News
  • Sports
  • Life & Arts
  • Perspectives
  • GNews
    • Staff Spotlights
    • First and Foremost
    • Allgood Food
    • Pepp in Your Step
    • DunnCensored
    • Beyond the Statistics
  • Special Publications
    • Peace Through Music
    • Climate Change
    • Everybody Has One
    • If It Bleeds
    • By the Numbers
    • LGBTQ+ Edition: We Are All Human
    • Where We Stand: One Year Later
    • In the Midst of Tragedy
  • Currents
    • Currents Fall 2022
    • Spring 2022: Moments
    • Fall 2021: Global Citizenship
    • Spring 2021: Beauty From Ashes
    • Fall 2020: Humans of Pepperdine
    • Spring 2020: Everyday Feminism
    • Fall 2019: Challenging Perceptions of Light & Dark
  • Podcasts
    • RE: Connect
    • Small Studio Sessions
    • SportsWaves
    • The Graph
    • The Melanated Muckraker
  • Print Editions
  • NewsWaves
  • Sponsored Content

Toast to Birthdays

February 13, 2018 by Kelly Rodriguez

Art by Madeline Duvall

Turning 22 is not as fun as Taylor Swift makes it seem. It’s not really an exciting birthday, especially compared to 21. If anything, it may feel like the first boring birthday of one’s adult life.

My birthday was on Feb. 8 and leading up to it, I found it hard to get excited. There were a variety of reasons why: It’s expensive, the world’s turmoil is constantly putting a damper on me, and the classic, I’m busy — all good reasons to discourage any sort of celebration or attention-seeking effort. But even as an adult in this crazy world, it’s important to acknowledge one’s birthday, reflect on the year that passed and have a little fun for goodness’ sake.

Sixty-four percent of Americans say it’s not important to celebrate their birthday, according to a 2015 market research study by Ipsos Reid. However, the same survey found that 9 in 10 Americans say it’s important to celebrate loved ones’ birthdays. If loved ones are important to celebrate, the same principle should apply to one’s own birthday.

Adults are a little too good at getting things done to the point that they don’t realize they should make time for fun — even on their birthdays. Things like self-reflection get pushed aside every day to make way for handling the pressures of everyday life.

But those pressures are the very reason to celebrate one’s birthday. Taking the day to feel special and reflect on another year of life is a form of self-care. It’s a matter of being intentional with the past and future and leaving room to celebrate the gift of the present.

Birthdays don’t have to be the extravaganzas they used to be at age 10 or 16, though they can be. What matters is celebrating the way one sees fit. Bustle has a list of 35 unconventional ways to celebrate a birthday including everything from scavenger hunts to cupcake crawls.

Celebrating birthdays can be a form of self-care, so raise a glass of Martinelli’s sparkling apple juice, take a cue from Parks and Recreation and “treat yourself.”

________________

Follow Kelly Rodriguez on Twitter at @KRodrigNews

Filed Under: Perspectives Tagged With: adulthood, birthday, Celebrate, column, happy birthday, Kelly Rodriguez, perspectives, self-care, Toast to Birthdays

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Featured
  • News
  • Life & Arts
  • Perspectives
  • Sports
  • Podcasts
  • G News
  • COVID-19
  • Fall 2021: Global Citizenship
  • Everybody Has One
  • Newsletters

Footer

Pepperdine Graphic Media
Copyright © 2023 ยท Pepperdine Graphic

Contact Us

Advertising
(310) 506-4318
peppgraphicadvertising@gmail.com

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
(310) 506-4311
peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com
Student Publications
Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90263
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube