Birthday Shenanigans

Beautiful people, the day had started with me in bed, unwilling to Stand up from the bed and do anything. Was going through WhatsApp and saw that today’s date is a special one thin 22/02/2022 or 22/2/22. Either way, I was forced to stand up, as we had to do a facility tour with a couple of staffs in the institute, what better way to start the training eh.

Overall, it was an educative one, as I got to see some facilities I have only heard of before, some fish species I had not seen before, and also a crocodile eating a fish for the first time. This is just day one, I am keeping an open mind and fingers crossed for more new experiences before the end of my duration here.

Also, I remembered it will be my birthday next Tuesday, March 1st. I’ll be a year older, not younger, older. It’s funny, because it feels like just last week, I was 16years older. Time moves quite fast. And even though you’ve seen it count to the last second, your mind is tricked to thinking it hasn’t been moving at all.

It would be a milestone for me, as I’ll be 25 years in a week’s time. Quarter a century. Two and a half decade. I didn’t just become who I am overnight, there has been a gradual formation of the person I am right now, personal experiences, people’s experiences, own mistakes, other’s mistakes; I have learnt from all these, slowly, but surely.

Weird thing is, in all my 25 years, for as long as I can remember (this stretches back to 17 years at least) I have never celebrated a birthday. At least not elaborately, I remember last year was the closest thing I have had to a birthday party because my friends had come together to celebrate in me in the way they could. I must say that there was something particularly nice about it and I hold that memory quite fondly.

I have always had an aversion to celebrating birthdays. I think the thing is: because I haven’t had any celebrations practically all my life, my mind has come to place and accept a logical reason it shouldn’t be celebrated in the first place: WE ARE GETTING OLDER AND CLOSER TO THE END. ‘the end’ here is basically the end of every thing good. My mind had come to accept this, perhaps, as a reason why birthday shouldn’t be celebrated. It is a sort of coping mechanisms. On the bright side, it made me not feel any desperation to do what I should have.

That’s two coping mechanisms I have devised with respect to celebrating birthdays. Firstly, why birthdays shouldn’t be celebrated, and secondly, why to think the first has its bright side.

Despite knowing and saying all these, I have no intention of doing any celebrations come next week, and even if I wanted to, I am not in the financial position to fund one. So, like many other birthdays before it, it is going to be just another day. I expect to wake up in the morning, have some breakfast, and be busy during the day with my field training.

Perhaps, the future holds a surprise, I really don’t know and can’t say. And I often try to have little or no expectations so I do not end up feeling disappointed.

In conclusion, I was supposed to post this article earlier, but I had not completed it yet, as I was feeling quite tired and sleepy, so I decided to rest my head a little and wake up later to complete what I had started. And these are mere rambles of a young adult who feels he’s getting older faster than he anticipated. I must appreciate you for your time in reading.

Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤