Being birthday is life-threatening

Hooray hooray, it's a party, because being birthday is fun and let today just be that one day of the year for me.

To be honest, I'm not celebrating it too exuberantly this year, because I'm pregnant, so I'm saving my energy for next year, when I hit thirty and can again enthusiastically hang out with white wine. But now I'm 29 springs young and a weekend away with my love. Nice to a hotel, spa, terrace, dining out: the good life. Nothing to complain about. Those birthdays have been celebrated differently, you know, when I had to drink shots at midnight with friends on any day of the week at Leidseplein to celebrate the moment of October 12. Ordinary pub, low top with a neckline on and hop, getting so drunk that no taxi driver wanted to take you home anymore. Or something with concussions from, eh, too wild dance moves. Something like that. Years ago, huh, years ago. I'm so happy that I'm no longer 21.

Research shows that it's not such a party to have a birthday. You may be happy and in the spotlight, but you also have a higher chance of bad luck. It turns out that in the seven days after your birthday, you are more likely to end up in the hospital compared to any other random week of the year. Birthday people are also more often involved in traffic accidents and have a higher risk of a heart attack, stroke, sports injury, or alcohol-related injuries. That last part doesn't surprise us, no. But well, it doesn't sound very cheerful.

How come? More stress around your birthday, even if you insist that you are ‘really keeping it small this year’ and ‘you don't care’. But the worries about throwing that sparkling party, the worries about that one friend you never speak to anymore and who isn't spontaneously coming by this year, the worries about getting another year older and still not having that house... It all doesn't work in your favor. Everything comes out, precisely on that one day of the year, that day when your age changes.

Well, I'm done with that. Hooray hooray, hi 29, here we go, extra careful today. Soon my party hat will blow into my eye or something, or I'll half choke on my cake, you never know. Happy when it's the 13th again.