For some people, birthdays can be discouraging and tend to bring up a variety of emotions surrounding this day commonly seen as “happy”.
Both freshman Lukas Skinner and sophomore Juliet Zmijewski said that their birthdays have become smaller and less exciting events in their lives as they have grown up.
“[My birthday]’s definitely become less of an event,” Zmijewski said “This summer, on my birthday, I worked at my job. I don’t really do much for my birthday anymore.”
Skinner agreed that his birthday has changed over the years, becoming less of a celebration.
“[Celebrating my birthday is] probably more of like hanging out than having a party, like having a sleepover,” Skinner said.
A smaller birthday celebration could be linked to the sadness some people feel on their birthdays. High expectations that aren’t reached by a certain age can stir up discouraging feelings. Also, memories of past birthday celebrations can come back and make people miss their childhood.
“There’s definitely good parts of my birthday, but the nostalgia that comes with it and thinking about all the past birthdays I’ve had definitely adds that touch of sadness,” Zmijewski said.
With nostalgic memories and possible hopes not being reached on ones birthday, these big emotions can manifest themselves.
“I definitely have [cried on my birthday]. It’s just, again, it’s just the nostalgia factor of it,” Zmijewski said.
Birthday sadness is often referred to as the birthday blues or birthday depression. According to Shannon Barbour, a writer for the website Wondermind, birthday depression has been minimally researched and no one really understands why it occurs.
Skinner has a different experience with his birthday than Zmijewski altogether, stating that he generally enjoys it.
“I like to see all my family come together, and I like to have people appreciate me,” Skinner said.
According to Cristy James from the Indiana University School of Medicine, positive attention instills trust between two people, strongest between parents and children.
While Skinner and Zmijewski have opposite feelings about their own birthdays, both can agree that they enjoy celebrating other people and their special days.
“Other people’s birthdays make me happy, I love being able to celebrate someone that I’m close to and give them the chance to have a good day,” Zmijewski said.
Zmijewski and Skinner are also both generally more excited to give gifts rather than to receive them.
“It’s nice to see people’s reactions when you give them a gift,” Skinner said.
The birthday blues on one’s own birthday are still common according to Temma Ehrenfeld from “Psychology Today.” Of 182 people polled on @bvnnews on instagram, 69% voted yes to the question, “Does your birthday make you sad?”
