Birthday Gift

Some people do new years resolutions.

I give myself a birthday gift.

Every year, about a month before my birthday, I analyse my life and where I want to be in a year, and I make a plan of what to do to get there. On my birthday, I sit down and write a letter to future me.

Each year on my birthday, my gift to myself is the fruits of my own labor. A year’s worth of work and struggle to make my life more meaningful.

Sometimes these are little tasks; sometimes, they are big goals that have been broken down into smaller ones. Sometimes they are things I’ve always wanted to do but never took the time to do.

This last year I worked towards learning a new language and picked up oil painting. I spent more time on the things I loved and less time looking at a screen. I worked to bring myself back to the level of health I had been pre-pandemic.

In some places, I missed the mark, and some of my goals were missed entirely. But in almost every area, I made progress.

Something about making these things a gift for future me makes me more likely to actually follow through. They aren’t a goal I set but a gift to myself.

On my birthday this year, I can look back and say that my life is better than it was the year before, that I am better than I was the year before.

Isn’t that the best gift you could ever get?