Why are birthdays so overrated?

Happy Birthday!
IMO they are not overrated, I love the fuss! If you don’t want to do anything, don’t do anything. I think an excuse to celebrate is a wonderful thing. Maybe I just appreciate them more because I’ve had a few times in my life where I wasn’t sure I’d see another one.

Everyone wants to feel special and be the center of attention sometimes, and a birthday is an excuse to feel this way without looking like a douche.

Well, for some people birthdays really suck. It doesn’t sound like you are one of them, since you’ve been able to organize parties for yourself. There’s nothing I would like better than to be able to completely not notice my birthday until it was months in the past.

The thing is, I believe that birthdays are really for the parents. Like, wow, we finally got that one out of the oven. That’s something to remember, and indeed, on my children’s birthdays, I always think back to those delivery rooms and remember what my wife went through.

As for us—a free day just because we got born? We had nothing to do with that. We have no responsibility for existing, so why should we celebrate it? I guess it’s kind of like winning the lottery, but if that happened to me, you can be sure I would keep it as private as possible.

I have a friend who loves having attention on his birthday. We’ll stand in a circle around him singing happy birthday and he’ll turn and turn with his arms held wide, as if he was soaking in the invisible manna. Friend. Well, we hang out with the same crowd, but I don’t really like him. He’s a salesman. Kind of hard to tell what’s real with him. Sort of the male version of perkiness. Hey, guess what? His wife is perkier than Maxwell House, and she annoys the shit out of me. She’s got to learn to put a sock in it.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s a self-esteem thing. You like the attention or you don’t. You think you deserve it or you don’t. I prefer parties that have nothing to do with anything other than let’s have a party. I don’t even tell anyone when my birthday is. Sometimes I won’t even say what sign I am. I say that I was born on Mars on the day it goes backwards in its orbit, and we don’t have signs there.

Wanna know something weird? Well, I’ll tell you anyway. It turns out that Mars really did go retrograde on my birthday that year. Just what you’ve always wondered. Wundy is a Martian. An alien. No wonder he never knows which fork to use. You heard it here first!

I don’t get it either.
It’s not like you did something to deserve a special day. You were born. Just like everyone else on the planet. Yippie. If anything, your mom deserves the attention for pushing you out.
Spend the day doing what you want. Friends will understand.

For some, the first one and a half, two decades birthdays are something to celebrate because we want to get sixteen and be allowed to see certain rated movies, drive bikes or cars, etc.
Then, the next one, two, three decades they are not interested because they have the age where they are allowed to do anything they like and are not bothered in the least.
Then we have a few decades that they really hate them because they don’t want to acknowledge the fact that they get old.
The next two, three, decades they start to like them again because they are happy that they still are around.
After that we die.

But it could also be completely the other way around.

Happy birthday! Everyone likes to know they are special and sometimes a birthday is the only day a person is able to feel special.

Because the hype is high, nothing can live up to it. And as @wundayatta said, it ends up being more about the parents than the one with the birthday (that goes for other things as well, like graduation).

I hate birthdays, but that’s probably for very different reasons.

Happy Birthday! It’s because it’s your day. You are likely the only one in your group to be born on this day. And you should do what makes you feel good. Never has to be a big do.

@MyNewtBoobs Last year I was all alone. My parents didn’t even say “happy bday” to me. I spent the day crying and writing songs. Then, the next day, they bought me a cake. blah. I just turned around and walked away. So they yelled at me, literally, screamed. and I understood, f birthdays. It kinda hurt though, I mean they are my parents and I’m still living with them.

Happy Birthday!

I don’t think they’re overrated. In fact, I don’t think celebrating them is overrated either. I’m one of those people who loves to have a birthday bash but has had too few of them (I’m catching up). Get past the disappointments now and the ones that are noted by people you care about and who also care for you in return and who take the time to plan ahead will make the sting a lot less.