Screw you, IBS! It’s My Birthday!

Guess what, IBS Community?! My birthday is coming up and I’m going to enjoy it as if IBS doesn’t exist! Woohoo! If I want to go crazy with eating and drinking anything I want, or if I want to hang out in places I haven’t hung out at in a while (like clubs or bars), or if I just want to simply do nothing at all, then I have every right as a human-being to do so and I won’t feel guilty because of it. We get so caught up with life that we forget to live in our moments and truly embrace it, whether we’re out with people we love, or if we’re by ourselves doing nothing at all. For those who don’t suffer from anxiety and depression, this might not seem like a big deal. But for those of us who do, these moments are valuable because most times it’s extremely difficult for us to cherish the significance of just being and living.

A day of spoils

As of a couple of years ago, I started to get excited about my upcoming birthdays again because I purposely began using this day to spoil myself shamelessly. This might not be anything new to some of you since there’s a chance you may always spoil yourselves on your birthdays. However, years ago when I started dealing with IBS, I found it hard to think of and use my birthday as a “special” day because I knew what the consequences would be every time I enjoyed myself too much. Obviously, this concept could apply to any occasion or event I get invited to, but I feel that birthdays should be very special to every individual (for many reasons), and therefore not taking advantage of that day can subconsciously become depressing after a while. Think about it, if we don’t even have the enthusiasm to celebrate our own lives, then we clearly don’t see ourselves as being of much importance to others, and I don’t think that’s the mentality any of us should have. We need to feel important to ourselves, so much so that we learn how to make ourselves smile at any moment, and therefore learn to see the good even through the bad.

Celebrate yourself

I don’t know about you, IBS Community, but I believe that since we don’t actually know how much time we have left on this earth (unless you’re some sort of psychic), we deserve to live our lives to the fullest. It’s not easy getting out of the “funk” when you’re depressed or dealing with lots of anxiety, but I fight to my fullest every day to be in a mentally good state. Regret, pain and suffering comes with the territory because sometimes we make mistakes, or wrong decisions, or we just have bad karma that costs us a flare up. Sometimes, it seems like no matter what I do I still have to endure some pain, so if that’s the case, why not fight for joy? Why not fight back against these forces that make us feel terrible by changing our perspectives on how we react to them?

A lot of the things I’ve written in this article are easier said than done, of course, but what’s wrong with giving it everything you got for yourself? As cliché as it sounds, YOU DESERVE TO BE HAPPY! And that’s exactly what I’ll try to be on my birthday no matter what IBS has in store for me.