It’s my birthday tomorrow and I would never insult you by writing a glib newsletter about how my year has been. I can’t stand achievement masturbation posts that masquerade as birthday celebrations. No one cares what any one person achieved in a single year. The ‘bought my own home, got a new job, married my best friend, what a year it’s been, here’s to the next rotation’ posts make me shudder. I apply the same sentiment to New Year’s Eve. I find it all so hard to swallow.
I’m far more interested in the way you broke down on your bathroom floor. Or how you ate so much of your favourite food you made yourself sick, dumped the rest in the bin, and then two hours later fished it out to finish eating it. I want to know about the broken, dark, grotesque parts of ourselves that we keep locked away from social media.
So, in light of my hatred for birthday achievement lists, but my ardent love of my birthday, I thought I would share 36 things I’ve learnt, as I sit on the cusp of turning 36.