Glennon Doyle

So if you really think about

how we've set up birthdays for ourselves in our culture.

We have made a pile of things that drive us nuts, that actually make human beings miserable.

So birthdays are based on number one, expectations.

We have this idea that's just hidden from everyone else of what we hope will happen or we think should happen or we expect should happen based on this or that or that.

Our secret expectations.

Expectations are just, you know, as we all know, they're just resentments just waiting to happen, right?

So expectations are a nightmare.

That's what birthdays are based on.

Number two, they're based on comparisons.

The more I think about it, everything is comparison.

Today,

Is my birthday.

I am today comparing myself to everybody else who had a birthday this year, who posted on Instagram, who has 20 friends where I have two, who has this cake where I have this one.

I'm comparing myself not only to other people, but myself last year.

Like, did all the things happen this year that I thought would?

I'm comparing myself to where I thought I would be at this age.

Like when I was young, I was 47.

I had this, I had this, I had this, I had this.

Yeah.