Why I Don’t Celebrate Birthdays

Posted byDaniel HoangPosted inThoughts

Birthday Girl Crown 4
Creative Commons License photo credit: AForestFrolic

Many people are annoyed with me when I try everything possible to avoid celebrating my birthday. I usually try to be traveling for work, out of town, or disappear for the day. Here are a random list of reasons why I don’t celebrate birthdays.

  1. It’s just an arbitrary day.
  2. It’s an arbitrary unit based on a calendar that’s based on the Earth’s rotation round the Sun.
  3. I’m no different on my birthday than the day before or the day after.
  4. Decades aren’t a good measure of milestone.
  5. There’s too many birthdays. Many places I work at celebrate birthdays weekly.
  6. It’s a commercial industry of cards, gifts, and celebration.
  7. I don’t get toys anymore.
  8. It’s never on a convenient day.
  9. I’m getting older.
  10. I just don’t want to okay.

Published by Daniel Hoang

Daniel Hoang is a visual leader, storyteller, and creative thinker. As an experienced management consultant, he believes in a big picture approach that includes strong project leadership, creative methods, change management, and strategic visioning. He uses a range of visual tools to communicate business challenges, solutions, and goals. His change strategy is to build "tribes" of supporters and evangelists to drive change in culture and organization. Daniel is an avid technologist and futurist and early adopter.