Therapist urges South Asians to acknowledge and embrace the joy of birthdays: 'Celebrate yourself'

You may be surprised to learn that in some cultures, birthdays are not widely celebrated. Recognizing this, a South Asian therapist decided to address the matter and encouraged fellow South Asians to embrace the significance of their birthdays as a means to celebrate their lives. On July 10, Samar Haroon—who goes by @therapyincolour on TikTok—uploaded a video on her TikTok handle and asked “mainly” South Asian people to “Celebrate Your F*kn Birthday” as “it is the one time in your life that you have not had to do anything to prove yourself.”

“Most of the validation within our community comes from merit, how are you excelling at life, what have you achieved,” Haroon explains. “And your birthday is the one thing that you are being validated and celebrated for simply existing.”

She discusses how depending on this professional achievement for self-worth can even lead to burnout. Celebrating our birthday can be as big or as intimate as we want it to be. “It’s, however, you understand celebration and however you want to celebrate yourself,” she says. “That could look like a hike, that could look like taking yourself out to dinner or buying a favorite cupcake. It could be calling all of your friends on a Zoom call and just, you know, being together on a day to celebrate you.”

As the video comes to a close, Haroon passionately reiterates the profound message that every individual's mere existence is a precious reason in itself to celebrate. In a world where cultures may vary in their traditions and practices, he empowers South Asians to recognize the significance of their lives and the importance of commemorating their birthdays as a symbol of self-worth and appreciation. 

She says, "You are worth being celebrated and you don’t constantly have to earn it. So the fact that you exist is a celebration in and of itself."

The post resonated with many people and several of them shared their own thoughts on the argument of celebrating birthdays. @p4th3rr commented, "My birthday is coming up and I’ve always dreaded it since childhood. It’s so draining but I’ll try celebrating it this year." @Random9 wrote, "This hits me hard. Birthdays and holidays aren’t really celebrated in my family. For once, I wanted to celebrate my birthday in June by going on a day."

@alywrites shares, "It’s funny because growing up as a kid I didn’t have birthday parties because we couldn’t afford it so now as an adult I always make sure I celebrate it." @TrishaBatra wrote, "I needed this - haven’t celebrated my birthday in years." This post gave much-needed motivation to many to celebrate their birthdays. @delwlll said, "I started enjoying celebrating my birthday when I was 18 and now I’m planning on how I’ll celebrate myself because I deserve it."