Yesterday was my birthday. I didn’t go out to a nice dinner, go to any parties or even spend any time celebrating. There weren’t enough hours in the day to eat lunch or dinner.

In fact, I had seven hours of class without a break and then I went to work.

This is not how it should be—we should celebrate whenever we get the opportunity to do so, and recognize our birthdays as special milestones every year as well as important events in our lives.

As young kids, we look forward, with eager anticipation, to our birthdays. Birthdays as children are almost like Christmas—we’re surrounded by family in a generous atmosphere and celebrate with gifts. But on our birthdays, the gifts are ours.

Why ignore that childlike sense of anticipation and whimsy as adults?

Birthdays also allow us to commemorate the landmarks in our lives. For example, I just turned 20. This means a significant portion of my life on Earth has passed—over 20 percent.

So celebrating landmarks like this allow us to look back on our days here and the things we have learned and the things that are to come allow us to reflect.

Not to sound grim, but understanding how much time we have left allows us to plan our lives accordingly.

It looks ludicrous to celebrate the births of major figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. as holidays but neglect to celebrate your own because the “Happy Birthday” song makes you feel awkward, or you feel old or because you don’t fancy being the center of attention.

Being the center of attention is important every once and awhile. And birthdays are the only day every year that we can be lazy, be inactive and celebrate ourselves. Being everyone’s focus makes us feel deeply appreciated and loved, and those are the best feelings to help us with overall well-being and being content in our often stressful environments.

Despite the annoyance of having one’s birthday broadcast to the world on Facebook, it is a reality we live with today. However, is it really all that bad to have dozens, possibly even hundreds of folks wishing you a happy birthday?

When an old, long-lost friend celebrates their special day, we’re also presented with an opportunity to reconnect or get back in touch with someone, rekindling a fond, sometimes forgotten friendship.

So my 20th birthday was spent working and going to class. It was a long, not a particularly noteworthy day for me.

But next year, I’m going to live it up, because these special occasions only come once per year, and allow introspective reflection and a reason to celebrate.