Reflecting on Birthdays...

I recently celebrated my birthday and I've decided that the older we get the more childlike we become. When you are a child...it's all about instant gratification. The universe as we knew it revolved around us and our needs and our wants.

Then as we matured and became more sophisticated we learned to be more giving. This is especially true if you become a parent. Suddenly our life and our universe revolved around another human being. Our child or even our partner to some degree becomes a new focus. The universe as we know it shifts.

Then as the child or children grow (and in some cases, as your partner matures and grows up) and their immediate needs become less demanding, I think that our universe changes focus once again. (You have my sympathies if you have had to raise your partner, sometimes they never grow up.)

We age, and reflect back on our lives, we evaluate our accomplishments and reassess our regrets and we discover that we care less and less about fitting in, making good impressions or justifying our life to anyone. We care more about "doing" the things that we wanted to accomplish in our lives and less about "what the neighbours might think".

I don't worry, any more, about whether or not people will understand why I want to do the things that I do, and worry more about getting them done in the time I have left on this planet. This, I think is the how we revert back to our childhood days. Children don't justify why they want the things they want, or why they want to do things that they do. They get excited about life and living and they have fun.

So I have finally reached the age that I have officially embraced the child within me. My universe has changed orbit once again and I have become the centre of my own universe. It's my birthday...and, to quote Kat, "After all, at the end of the day, it's all about me".

So...if I'm going to be the centre of my own universe...I might as well christen myuself goddess. Happy Birthday to me!