It was my birthday yesterday! Those of you in the UK will be more than aware that it’s my second birthday in a lockdown, meaning I entered lockdown as a 22 year old and will (hopefully) be leaving it as a 24 year old.
I think anyone who’s had a lockdown birthday, which is pretty much all of us now in the UK, will have had the experience of people wishing you a happy birthday, followed by condolences for it being during lockdown. For people that like to go out for their birthday or have a big party, I totally get that! But personally, these two birthdays in lockdown have been amongst the best.
Prior birthdays have held such high expectations that were never fulfilled. I’d go out with friends, and leave early because I don’t enjoy pubs or clubs all that much. Even when a group of my friends threw me a surprise party, I largely just felt uncomfortable and overwhelmed. Most of my birthdays ended with me crying in bed feeling like crap because people had gone out of their way to do things for me, and although I appreciated the sentiment I rarely enjoyed whatever they’d actually done.
These lockdown birthdays have had low expectations and restrictions on what I can even actually do, which has led to me having the type of birthdays I’ve always wanted. Both have been some lovely gifts, a home cooked meal with my mum, brother and Jay, since they’re all in my bubble, followed by a relaxed evening in with Rich watching whatever I fancy and ordering pizza. Of course as always, my mum baked me a brilliant cake!
It’s fair to say ‘well you could have done that before’, and I could have, but I didn’t realise it was a choice when all around me I saw people getting excited for their birthdays weeks before because of the party or event they’d be having for it.
Lockdown is horrendous for a wide range of different reasons, but for me as an individual, this is one of the tiny positives to have come out of it, and I think birthdays in future will be a much quieter and more enjoyable event for me whether we’re in lockdown or not!
-Dana
Carry on Beautiful! 