There’s a popular post circulating online that suggests men shouldn’t celebrate their birthdays because they—we!—should celebrate achievements, not existence.

While I could relate to it, and I felt incredibly surprised as my perspective is the exact opposite, the main point I want to make is this:

If you manage to make it another year around the sun, which isn’t a guarantee, it’s worth taking a part of a day and celebrating it. You’re still around! You made it. Your family and friends did too. That’s not always going to happen. (For me—a good friend passed away, another good friend was diagnosed with cancer, and my dog passed away—all within the span of 12 months.)

Yes—achievements are definitely worth celebrating—but no achievement happens without your existence. And sometimes you need to celebrate the effort—not just the outcomes—because you can only control the effort you put in, and not necessarily what results come out of it. 

By the way, if you don’t celebrate your birthday, you will also probably find it difficult to celebrate your other achievements. You’ll plan on celebrating your win—but what’s more likely is you’ll achieve your goal, and you’ll probably move on to the next thing. “This next opportunity is in front of me, and there’ll always be a time to celebrate it later,” you’ll tell yourself. 

In my case, I am pretty good at achieving, however I’m still not very good at celebrating yet. I’m learning to get better.