Celebrating Birthdays and Anniversaries

Last week my friend Rose celebrated her 35th birthday and few months back it was her 10th wedding anniversary. Like most people, she had celebrated these occasions organizing special lunch/ dinner get togethers with her family and friends and getting surprise treats/ gifts from her spouse and friends. She had also organized parties and had gone for few days to an island with her spouse. 

When I asked Rose (who is a Marketing Manager and leading a team of 5 people at a leading textiles company) about her goals and plans at work for next year as the current financial year for the company will soon be ending, she excitedly told me that she and her team had made several plans for every week in the next year to achieve their next year targets. They had also planned special initiatives which will allow them to not only achieve the targets but show massive improvements in the sales and marketing strategies of the company for the future. 

What do you think? The same person Rose planned for her work life such that it will change the future for the company but when it came to personal level she did not think about enhancing her future personal and married life. But this is not only the story of Rose. I believe most of us do the same, which is fine, but don’t we need to take some extra efforts and think about enhancing our life by using the birthdays and anniversaries. When I told this to Rose, she got surprised and asked me how and what should be done. I told her this is something for you to decide (as no other than you will know what is best for you and what you want to do in your life) but don’t let the special occasions pass by just like that. 

Few thoughts and ideas which I shared with her are:

Just like a corporate entity plans for next year and then sets budgets and targets to achieve, we should identify our areas of our life which should include all our roles and responsibilities as well as our passion and hobbies. For example, work/career, family, financial, social, health, activities related to our hobbies and passion, etc. We should then plan carefully all these activities in our daily routine in such a manner that no activity is left out without doing it atleast once a week. Every year just before your birthday, review each of these areas and activities. Think if you are satisfied with them or would like to make any changes. Add 1-2 extra activities or goals to each of your areas every year. For example, for your health area you had decided to go for walk 2 times a week until last year, now you can think of increasing it or adding other physical activities. Similarly, when it comes to family, you can think of how can you spend more productive time with your family and what activities you will add to your routine to manage your house and family better. For yourself, think about spending time in peace, increasing time for meditation/ reflection, plan additional activities to serve the society, etc. Thus, birthdays could be used as an opportunity to think about your future rather than just going for lunch or dinner or throwing a party. Hopefully this will give you an opportunity to think about yourselves and what you really want to do in your life rather than running a rat race. 

When it comes to marriage anniversaries, it gives the partners a wonderful opportunity to look back at the number of years they spent together, the mistakes they made, the beautiful time they spent with each other, etc. Then they both should suggest few things they consider needs to be improved or adopted in their life to make their next year much better and happier. 

Again celebrating birthdays or anniversaries by traveling to a beautiful place or throwing a party or doing something else is necessary and should be done but the most important think to do on special occasions is to review your past and plan and implement ways to enhance your next year. If this happens, your life will really turn into miracle. You will not just wait for others to give your surprises and gifts, instead your birthdays, anniversaries or other occasions will be really special for you and when someone asks you how you celebrated it - you will definitely have a shine and sparkle on your face and confidently be able to say there was a celebration, there were surprises, there were gifts but the most most important- I/we sowed a new seed in the plant of my/our next year and ultimately my/our life. 

“So plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.”   - Jorge Luis Borges