Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to make your own birthday fun, or your
Speaker 1: own fun for any other special day in your life.
Speaker 1: It is fun to celebrate, but it is also not
Speaker 1: reasonable to assume that anyone else is going to take
Speaker 1: this on for you. By taking the initiative, you increase
Speaker 1: the chances of enjoying your special day. This episode is
Speaker 1: first airing near my birthday. Now. When I was little,
Speaker 1: I wasn't so fond of having a December birthday, as
Speaker 1: it meant all my gift receiving occasions were clustered into
Speaker 1: one small chunk of the calendar. However, as an adult,
Speaker 1: I have appreciated that the world is already festive in December.
Speaker 1: There are lots of parties and special events, and I
Speaker 1: can simply piggyback on many of those to feel celebratory
Speaker 1: this time of year. This might be more challenging if
Speaker 1: your birthday happens in a party dead zone, like I
Speaker 1: don't know, early March. However, whatever time of year we
Speaker 1: are looking at, you can think about what you might
Speaker 1: find enjoyable and plan that in Simply remind yourself about
Speaker 1: three to four weeks ahead of time that your birthday
Speaker 1: is coming up. Then think about what adventures or experiences
Speaker 1: you would enjoy going out to eat, going to a show.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite place you like to visit,
Speaker 1: like a science museum or a special store. Do you
Speaker 1: have people you would like to visit. See if you
Speaker 1: can plan things in for the days around your birthday.
Speaker 1: You are setting this up three to four weeks ahead
Speaker 1: of time. I am guessing that you can make it happen.
Speaker 1: Maybe you go out to lunch with colleagues on the
Speaker 1: day before your birthday and meet a few friends for
Speaker 1: happy Hour on your birthday itself. Maybe you and your
Speaker 1: spouse go out that weekend to celebrate, and during one
Speaker 1: of the days on that weekend you spend two hours
Speaker 1: at your museum or the shop, or whatever your special
Speaker 1: place is. You would look forward to that for quite
Speaker 1: a while and would be excited to think, while you
Speaker 1: were out to lunch with colleagues that you had even
Speaker 1: more celebrating coming up over the next few days. Now.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people don't do this. Some
Speaker 1: people don't like to celebrate their birthdays, But I think.
Speaker 1: Another common reason is that people don't think to plan
Speaker 1: things in for themselves. We have this idea, maybe stemming
Speaker 1: from childhood when our parents planned our birthday parties, that
Speaker 1: other people in our lives should be coming up with ideas,
Speaker 1: and you know what, maybe they will, but everyone is busy.
Speaker 1: If you would like something to happen, take charge of
Speaker 1: the planning yourself. Would you find it weird if a
Speaker 1: colleague ask to arrange a birthday lunch next week for herself,
Speaker 1: you'd probably be excited for her, and guess what, everyone
Speaker 1: will feel the same for you. This is true for
Speaker 1: anything else special you would like to celebrate as well.
Speaker 1: Maybe your organization will celebrate that you have been there
Speaker 1: for five years, but maybe not if you're happy about it,
Speaker 1: throw your own little happy hour to celebrate. If you've
Speaker 1: had some other milestone, like winning an award, invite a
Speaker 1: few friends to get together to toast it. We have
Speaker 1: the power to put things into our lives that we
Speaker 1: will be happy to have had happen. Perhaps in our
Speaker 1: fantasy lives, fun wouldn't require any planning and effort. But
Speaker 1: the net result of waiting for festive things to happen
Speaker 1: is that they probably won't. When you make your own fun,
Speaker 1: the fun will happen and that is a much better outcome.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: for iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.