Birthday Time

Today is my Birthday. It’s not a big one, the balloons don’t need to come out for 24.

Birthday’s for me are all about reflection, over the past year or years, how you’ve grown, the highlights of the year…and inevitably this leads to memories of years gone by when eating disorders hve controlled me and spoiled such special occasions. It may not seem like the most appropriate or perhaps happy post to be sharing on my Birthday, but when things are on your mind it’s the opportune time to blog.

Birthday’s are just one of those occasions which tend to centre heavily around food and over the past 10 years have either been an excuse for me to binge or an horrifically painful day of making an even greater effort to restrict, avoiding all temptation to the point I thought I might implode from the self inflicted pressure.

Memories of childhood birthdays which included the usual cake, sweets and all the usual treats… not a thought crossed my mind over weather it was healthy or not, I’m not sure I even knew what the word meant; oh the freeness of it all!

As I said Birthday’s have always been a time for self reflection (when I say always I mean about the last maybe 12 years or so), and on the whole the thoughts have led to negative outcomes. Whether it was binging on food, feeling even emptier than usual or suffering from the world’s worst hangover, Birthday’s have had a tendency to end on a negative note.

I’ve always had a tendency to have certain expectations, of myself, of others and of certain situations and occasions and should things not turn out as I’d anticipated I felt solely responsible for what I would deem a failure.

But not this time round! After a successful Christmas and New Year season (not a hint of binging, purging, or restricting in sight nor the overwhelming urge to do any of the three) I’m feeling confident and happy about today. I don’t feel any pressure to make a big deal of the day, I don’t have whole heap of predefined precise forecasts of how it should all fall in to place.

I’m finally happy just the way one should be when it’s their Birthday! I always felt that I should at least appear happy on my Birthday and even during the hardest times I made a concerted effort to appear in good spirits.

This year it’s completely different and I’m putting myself first, looking after myself and making sure it’s a happy day for me not purely centred around food though it will of course feature but from a much healthier balanced perspective.

Here’s what the day I’ve planned looks like…

Before the day has begun I treated myself to an early Birthday present during the week, though it will actually be belated by the time it arrives; my latest investment buy!

9.00am – 7 km Run (done and dusted!)

11.00am – Killer overnight oats parfait, one of the best yet (recipe will be up next week!)

11.30am – Trip to the healthstore to splurge a little

12.30pm – Shellac Time – Hands and Toes with Mum! @AnnaSchu

14.00pm – Trip to the Happy Pear to pick up some fresh goodies and kale krunchies which they now have in stock!

15.00pm – Mid afternoon brownie treat – if you can’t get a vegan gluten free cake/treat = make one

I might make Emily’s!

16.00pm – Bita blog reading, recipe perusing and tweeting perhaps

17.00pm – Bath time! Nothing like a luxurious soak

18.00pm – 19.30pm – Relaxing and pampering

20.30pm – Dinner in Yamamori

Bed!

I’ll be back with a recap tomo! Hopefully I’ll squeeze in some present receiving somewhere in the day.

Mum and Dad got me fantastic new pair of Brooks…

And a new gym bag (I wasn’t looking the part with my well worn runners and handbag over my shoulder! )

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Do you do things because you feel you should or to please others on you Birthday?

What’s your idea of the perfect yet understated Birthday day?

Tagged as: binge eating, birthday, eating disorders, my story