A year has flown past and it is time to celebrate my hatch day again! This was probably the quietest birthday that I had ever had. Since young, I do not have the habit of really celebrating my birthday given it is typically school holidays. I also tend to fall sick during my birthday as far as I can recall as a kid.
As I enter into my teenage years, I started to celebrate in the company of my buddies and I remember I also celebrated my 21st as a milestone of me stepping into adulthood officially. On that day, I made the promise to myself that from then on, I shall no longer celebrate my birthday in style in future.
I no longer covet a celebration because one, I do not want to remind myself that I am a year older again. Two, people long for birthdays because of wishes and gifts to a certain extent, for that something that you really like to be gifted to you as a present on your birthday and I have come to a point whereby I can afford whatever that I want and have no need for any presents or gifts, I am not sure if that is a blessing or a curse? It might make you look lonely and cynical that no one bothers to buy you a gift on your birthday or not know what to buy for you because you do not like any gifts LOL. The things that I want to buy also do not come cheap and I would feel embarrassed to be receiving gifts from others who probably have to scrimp and save to buy me the gift. Third, I go through hustle and bustle 364 days a year and I would like that one day to be reserved for some peace, quietness and ME time. Thus, I try to travel during my birthday and I have been doing that since 2009 except for a few years when I could not travel due to work commitments and in the last 2 years without having to explain further - Genting, Shanghai, Maldives, Is, Turkey, UK, NY, Nepal - these are the places which I have left my footprint outside of SG.
I did not make a single wish this year because I no longer know what to wish for - world peace, C to be over, and to be happy always? Perhaps if I had to make wishes in the past, I would wish for an extraordinary life but as I age, I just want to be happy and live an ordinary life. I want to be able to travel around the world, meet different people from different cultures, appreciate the simplest things in life, be patient towards people around me and myself, want the people around me to also be happy and healthy and be able to live the life that they want. Life only gets tougher as you age and when I look around, I often asked myself, how many people are truly happy in life?
What makes you happy?
