Celebrate Your Rebirthdays, Too!

Our birthdays aren't the only new beginnings in our lives worth celebrating

Photo by Pineapple Supply Co. on Unsplash

Today is my husband’s birthday, which led me to reflect on the other fresh starts we experience throughout our lives. Most of us celebrate new beginnings like graduations, weddings, and retirements. We send or receive cards and gifts. We host or attend parties.

But we rarely celebrate other fresh starts. People who leave abusive partners don’t get “Congratulations! You did it!” cards. Neither do people who leave churches that condemn them for their political views or sexual orientation.

There are no parties for employees who quit or get fired because they refuse to do something unethical or tolerate sexual harassment.

I think those other new starts are at least as impressive as the ones we normally celebrate. If you or someone you love has ever done one of those things, you know how much courage it requires. You know that kind of new beginning is not a happy one, at least not at first. It is usually filled with far more fear, anger, and sadness than joy.

So it may be impossible to celebrate some fresh starts as they happen. But later, when we can look back and see how those first steps led to a healthier, happier new life, it’s time to throw a party!

Even if we’re the only party guests, I think we need to celebrate the times we chose to (or were forced to) start over and how far we’ve come. At least I do. It’s easy for me to ignore my progress and focus on how far I still have to go. I pressure myself to move faster when I need to rest, enjoy life now, and plan my next steps.

I need reminders that even though my new life includes challenges I rarely faced in my former life, I wouldn’t go back to that old life even if I could. My new life is so much better.

Unlike our birthdays, rebirthdays don’t happen every year and aren’t guaranteed to happen at all. We have to work hard to make them happen. That makes them truly special events worth celebrating.

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