My favorite birthday treat/practice. You can do it too! It’s easy and fun.

This week is my birthday.  I’ll be sharing more about that later, but today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite birthday practices ever.  I came up with it about a decade ago.

Probably around that time I also had these two epiphanies.

1. I am the only one that will be at every single one of my birthdays.

2. If I want to make it special– I can do it myself.  I don’t have to wait around for someone else to plan (or give me) the perfect thing.  I can think about what I want and make it happen.  When it comes to parties I usually delegate the work, because I hate party planning, and it’s my birthday after all. 😉  But I can get myself a present if there is something special I really want and…. and this is my practice:

I give myself a card.

Every year on my birthday I give myself a birthday card.

I love cards.  I love beautiful whimsical images and often while shopping for cards I find LOADS of ones that I love.  So around the time I realized I didn’t have to wait for someone else to make my bday special I realized also that I could buy myself my own birthday card.  I didn’t have to stand there and think, “Oh I would love to get THAT card.” I could get that card! For myself!

So I did.

I write in them too.

Every year, I write whatever I want in them: encouragement for myself, reflection on where I have been, thoughts on where I am heading.  I don’t have a formula.  At some point I just pick out the card of my choosing, and then I sit down and write in it.  I seal it too.

Then, on my birthday (that’s Wednesday this week!), I open it and read it to myself.

It’s lovely really.  I have a whole collection of them because I also save them.  Every year I get to chose the art (card) that speaks to me, in that moment of my life, and I  get to tell myself whatever I want.  I’m always sweet to myself!  It’s my birthday after all!

I highly recommend it.

You’re worth it too!

Love,

Aimée