"Happy" Birthday?

[davidjonw]

Just wondered how everybody gets on with birthdays?
The day of the year when the focus is on you to get out and enjoy yourself with lots of attention..yayyy!!

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[Oddity]

I despise the attention birthdays bring. I resent having to pretend I want to celebrate it.

[davidjonw]

Originally Posted by Oddity

I despise the attention birthdays bring. I resent having to pretend I want to celebrate it.

Me too...although sometimes I feel guilty for being unappreciative of the life that I do have :-/

I do like to celebrate my birthday....but on my own without the pretending. Drop me a text to say happy birthday by all means...but thats all I want lol....actually going to deactivate fb this year for the prior and follwing week of my birthday!

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[Ajax Amsterdam]

I've never been interested in my birthday. I've never been one to enjoy too much focus on me. My partner likes to do something for her birthday and as it's just two days before mine we go somewhere in Europe for a city break for our birthdays, although I see it more of a thing for her birthday than mine.

[Hayman]

I've not really celebrated any birthday after my 21st… There's been no point as no one wants to know when it's my birthday. If I say nothing, people think I expect too much and if I say so much as a word about it, I'm deemed to be an "attention seeker". So, I basically can't do right for doing wrong. Yet, ironically, I'm made to feel selfish and miserable if I don't celebrate anyone else's. Talk about irony!

I see celebrations and parties arranged for just about anyone I know. Myself, who has pointed this out in the past when they wonder why I don't celebrate…? The above happens. I'm told I'm an 'attention seeker' for merely wanting the same things that come to others as standard.

This is just one of many reasons why I have both Social Anxiety and Depression. In whatever walk of life, I'm always, without fail, singled out in one way or another.

On Facebook, I have hidden the option for my birthday to be displayed. A day or two before hand, I also set the option so no one else can comment and everything has to be approved before it appears. Why do I do this? On my old account, my birthday was visible. The last birthday I had with that account open I had a grand total of four messages left for me – out of 250-odd 'friends'. I'll ensure that this embarrassment will never happen again. I'd rather have nothing at all than a few crumbs, whilst I see everyone else receive many dozens of messages – if not into treble figures. I know that alone makes me sound like I'm seeking attention but it really isn't. All I'm after is fairness.

Same event/occasion – but again, completely different responses. If I can't achieve the same acknowledgement for the very same occasion, then I'd genuinely rather have nothing at all.

My 30th birthday went by almost completely unnoticed. I lumped around compost for my mother. I worked on my 31st which again was more or less a regular day and I'll be working again on my 32nd.

I will not celebrate nor mark the day in any way shape or form until I have the same little perks that materialise for everyone else. It's as simple as that, really. Not only that, there's a decade's worth of other birthday's that need making up for also...

I appreciate if that sounds childish, but very few people have walked in my shoes where people have actively avoided celebrating your birthday simply because you're not a popular person. They think you don't care but the truth is that you're compelled not to care about yourself because of how everyone negatively judges you.