Celebrating Ourselves: A Birthday Reflection

Birthdays used to be simple for me. Cupcakes, candles, and celebrations that marked who someone was and what mattered to them. Somewhere along the way, that kind of care quietly shifted outward, and I stopped offering it to myself.

In this reflection, I write about the slow accumulation of mental load, the experience of feeling unseen, and what it means to begin celebrating ourselves again in small, honest ways. Not as performance or productivity, but as care.

This piece explores what it looks like to listen inward, to notice what actually restores us, and to give ourselves permission to honour that. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is ask, What do I need? and take the answer seriously.

~ Haide

[Read the full post on Substack.]