Order lunch from one of your favorite local restaurants or other little changes that can make it feel like a day different than any other. One of the reasons people struggle with birthdays is that there are too many things on the slate.
Gatherings with friends, a party with family, special time with a significant other; are all things that can make the day feel too busy, too stressful, and put additional pressure on the birthday itself. Keeping things simple can lower the risk of feeling overwhelmed and of anything going wrong with plans that have been set up for the day.
It can also lead to a little less stress on what is supposed to be a special day. Limit The Sadness. Feeling sad on a birthday is both normal and okay. But there is a fine line between experiencing some sadness and wallowing in it. Limiting the amount of grief you are willing to experience on your birthday can help keep it from feeling overwhelmingly sad.
Crazy as it may seem, it might be a good idea to accept that sadness will happen. This allows the person to accept that sadness will occur to process it and move forward. Tell People. The birthday blues are a real thing, and there are many reasons why birthdays are so difficult.
That feeling is entirely normal and okay, but it is about managing those feelings and finding a way to either enjoy the day or mitigate those feelings of sadness.
The older we get, it feels like birthdays are so hard for many of us. But taking some of the aforementioned steps can make those days feel more special as they are meant to explore and take some of the sadness out of the day. Birthdays are what you make of them. Get what you want out of them and try to make them a day of fun and celebration if you can. We only get one per year, so even if you feel wrong about that day, many of them have to go through.
In fact, it is often a natural progression throughout life. You feel invincible and know you have so many birthdays to look forward to.
However, it can be really helpful to understand why you feel this way and address it preemptively. It can be helpful to beat the birthday blues by tempering your expectations and making realistic plans for how you want to celebrate your birthday.
Try to plan something yourself and actively make your birthday a good birthday by planning events that you like to do. Every person is different, of course, and each person deals with their birthday blues differently.
Some of the most common reasons that people cry on their birthdays include:. Even if you have plenty of friends wishing you a happy birthday, it could still fall flat or feel unfulfilling.
A good way to try to reduce these feelings to celebrate your birthday your way. If you love hiking, invite a few friends on a birthday hike! This is a pretty common feeling for many people. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives to a traditional birthday party that can help you have a happy birthday.
Instead, try to find a way to incorporate what you love into your party. If you love movies, go out to dinner and a movie with a few friends. If you enjoy hiking and being outdoors, plan a hike or a walk with friends and family.
If you notice that one of your friends or family members is sad on their birthday, it can be really helpful to offer some words of encouragement. Instead, try to find ways to suggest fun activities that will naturally cheer the person up. Major changes such as getting married, having children, or retiring—all of which often correspond with acute periods of stress—can lead to depression. These events may trigger depression because they force people to examine their identity, Shankman says.
When a child moves out of the house, a mother or father might reassess the parenting aspect of their identity. When someone retires, the professional aspect of their identity is altered.
In the same way, birthdays can prompt us to explore how our identity has evolved. Meaningful life events also elicit memories, expectations, and disappointments, says Myrna Weissman, chief of the division of epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute. A birthday also comes along with expectations, as you envision a perfect day celebrating with your loved ones. Of course, social media can exacerbate the emphasis on curating a perfect birthday. A few strategies can help navigate birthday stress, Shankman says.
One is to think about the event ahead of time and write down your thoughts, expectations, and concerns. Anxiety can feel overwhelming. But there a some natural remedies that can help you find inner calm. The answer is, there is no clear-cut answer. This year competed with personal illness and the coronavirus pandemic, so the day came and went without fuss. A few years ago, one of my aunties forgot to send me a card and I felt painfully unloved. I decided to ask a psychologist why this recurring pattern might be, well, recurring.
Lesley Russel is a clinical psychologist and counsellor who specialises in depression and anxiety. After speaking to Lesley, it turns out that birthdays can be challenging for many different reasons, and many different people.
Lesley also goes on to mention that traumatic memories of past birthdays can be triggering for people, as is the concept of ageing in itself.
People struggling with mental illness and lack of social support can be even more vulnerable to these emotional challenges. Basically anyone and everyone can struggle with their birthdays for a multitude of reasons. Celebrate in a way that makes you feel good. Image: iStock. For me, birthdays are stressful because I feel as though my age should reflect a certain level of personal and professional achievements. As you can imagine, this is a game that never ends well. As women, I feel as though we all have this fear to a certain extent.
On my friend's 25th birthday she felt devastated not to have a romantic partner, with her dreams of being pregnant before 30 feeling out of reach.
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