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Happy birthday! The words come flooding in from friends and family via text messages, Facebook posts, and other social media platforms. Each message ensures you do indeed enjoy a happy birthday. A smile forming on your face knowing somebody took the time to think of you and write you a message.

While nice, birthdays possess the potential to mean so much more. That starts by using your birthday as a time to sit back and self-reflect over the previous 365 days. A concept familiar to my long-time readers as almost every year I am championing the birthday self-reflection. Publicly answering 11 birthday self-reflection questions in hopes you will do the same around your birthday.

Through taking the time to answer the questions below you help enhance your own self-awareness. Plus, establish goals which will help you maintain proper priorities. Aiding you in keeping a healthy direction in life, as opposed to getting lost in life’s shuffle. So, what do you say? Continue along to see how to level up from a happy birthday to making your birthday matter.        

Leveling up!

Question #1: Compared to a year ago, how are you better off now?

Emotionally, I feel I am in a better place than I was one year ago. Much credit for that goes to my support system. My brother Nick bought a house last summer and asked me if I would want to move in. Prior to agreeing, I brought up my concerns which since I do not drive mainly revolved around transportation to work and the grocery store. I even recall telling two friends at work, “If I have to get a different job closer to my new place, that’s what I’ll do.”

“That’s not going to happen!” one spoke up. Coincidentally, both my friends lived near what would become my new place. My manager also showed a desire to keep me by remaining flexible and adjusting my schedule a bit. Between my manager’s willingness to adjust my schedule, my friends at work offering to help me with rides, and a transportation agreement with Nick I feel an increased gratitude for where I am in life. That gratitude goes a long way towards staying positive.  

Question #2: What stands out?

Keeping to the transportation theme a little longer, starting to use Uber stands out to me. This became necessary because even with my friends and Nick’s help, I still needed to get myself to work a couple times a week. Previously I shied away from using ride share services, hesitant about getting into a stranger’s vehicle. Once I started using Uber though, my hesitation melted away. Now instead, I find myself possessing a new tool to help get myself places.

Going beyond transportation, some different moments stand out to me. United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Greater Cleveland brought back their Race to Empower 5k and 1-mile event for the first time since COVID shutdown the world in 2020. Just like in 2019, I led Team CP Vigilante. My team possessed a strong presence too. Between family, friends, co-workers, my childhood physical therapist, and even her son, 14 people took to the course wearing a Team CP Vigilante shirt!

Another standout moment occurred in September at my 20-year high school reunion. A reunion which back in May nearly faced postponement. Everyone on our reunion committee, including me, too busy with day-to-day life to give the reunion planning the necessary time. Then I thought back to our high school student newspaper junior and senior years. A classmate encouraged me to take a more active role while the newspaper faced challenges. Between taking a full course load including AP classes and working part-time, I dismissed my classmate’s encouragement because I was “too busy.” Leaving me to always wonder, what if I had stepped up?

Fast forward back to our 20-year reunion. Rather than wondering what if, I silently decided to make the reunion a priority, at least temporarily. Hence the reason I went missing from my blog here in 2025. I stayed busy attending reunion meetings, writing emails to keep our classmates in the know, creating graphics to promote the reunion, and more. Effort the rest of the reunion committee recognized, surprising me in front of everyone in attendance with an appreciation award. Our class president going as far as telling everyone the reunion would not have happened without me.   

Question #3: What did you accomplish?

For starters, you could consider helping to bring my 20-year high school reunion to fruition an accomplishment. As far as measurable accomplishments go, I’m proud to say I surpassed both my step and fundraising goals for Steptember, a fundraising initiative benefiting Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation (CPARF). Participants vow to complete the equivalent of 10,000 steps daily throughout September. I ended up with 300, 335 steps while raising $310 for CPARF.

On a similar note, earlier I referenced Team CP Vigilante’s presence at UCP of Greater Cleveland’s 2025 Race to Empower. Overall, my team raised $385 for UCP of Greater Cleveland. Meanwhile the 5k kicked off another season of races for me. In fact, this past August marked 10 years since I completed my first 5k. I celebrated by doing two 5ks in one weekend! Winning best costume at the Helping Hands Hero 5k. The following day I completed the B’nai B’rith Health Run two minutes and 30 seconds faster than my Helping Hands Hero 5k finish. Impressive considering you would expect a slower time due to fatigued legs from the previous day’s event.    

Question #4: What goals did you set?

My primary goal continues to be taking care of myself. Living with cerebral palsy (CP), that means exercising regularly, listening to my body, and sleeping eight hours a night to maintain energy levels. Making sure I am staying properly fueled assists with this too. So, balancing out coffee intake with drinking water. Consuming enough protein and calories to compensate for burning through calories faster than an able-bodied individual.

With that said, self-care goes beyond physical health. Finding activities which fulfill you and give you purpose leads to happiness. Hence why I continue to make staying active with my blog, YouTube channel, and other CP Vigilante endeavors another goal.

Question #5: Did you achieve your goals? What did you do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to achieve your goals?

In the broad sense, yes. I succeeded in taking care of myself. Exercising regularly sets the foundation to do this. To maintain good core strength, I do a set of reverse crunches daily. Allowing me on occasions where I lose my balance, to prevent falls and remain upright.

Exercise wise, I am making sure I complete some exercises at least once a week. Sticking to either my hands and knees or miscellaneous routines as since my move in September I no longer have access to a staircase for my stair routine. In situations where I am short on time, I created an abbreviated miscellaneous routine which includes different hamstring stretches and some marching in place. The marching in place grew in importance as my new place has a higher bathtub. To adapt, I need to maintain the best possible range of motion in my legs.

Again though, taking care of yourself goes beyond physical health. On occasion I will miss doing a daily set of my reverse crunches or let eight or nine days go by without doing one of my exercise routines. Rather than beating myself up, in the moment I show myself grace. Reminding myself I am only human. Forgiving myself for the missed activity and re-focusing on the present day. After all, I am not Doc Brown and Marty McFly. I don’t have a time machine to go back in time and get those activities complete. Although, with access to Doc Brown’s time machine if Marty McFly had cerebral palsy…

The above video I released in December, building back some momentum for my YouTube channel after temporarily shifting my focus to my reunion. Plus, settling in from my move. Breaking down videos and later blog posts into specific tasks to progress on daily or complete by week’s end worked well to get back into publishing content regularly. As did focusing on one video or post at a time, opposed to spreading myself thin with multiple projects.         

Question #6: What went right?

Nick putting the offer out there for me to move in proved a game changer! As I already mentioned, the move provided the catalyst for me to get over my hesitation about using ride share services. Once again giving myself, “a new tool to help get myself places.”

Plus, also already mentioned, the move increased my gratitude for my work. Gratefulness growing from a manager willing to adjust my schedule and co-workers who would rather help provide me rides rather than see me leave and seek employment elsewhere.

Moving on from the move, temporarily making planning my 20-year reunion a priority allowed me to find the necessary time to help plan the event. The idea to temporarily reset priorities I grabbed from Promote Your Book Spread the Word, Find Your Readers, and Build a Literary Community by Eleanor C. Whitney, a book which I read back in early 2024.

Question #7: What went wrong?

Within planning the 20-year reunion, a lot went wrong. To name a few, some funds earmarked for the reunion ended up misappropriated.  Miscommunication led to last minute changes to our planned tour of the high school. Unexpectedly taking on the task of distributing tickets to our classmates for our alma mater football game we attended led to a couple late nights for me. Our caterer had a few missteps, reducing food options for classmates with dietary restrictions.

When listed one after another, all the stress, frustrations, and annoyances might seem overwhelming. Leading you to ask, “Was all the effort worthwhile?” Between seeing multiple classmates who travelled in from other states and countries enjoying themselves and selfishly getting that moment where the rest of the committee surprised me with an appreciation award, yes. In fact, I believe the experience teaches the more obstacles you overcome, the greater the reward you end up with.

Dare I say you could go as far to reason what in the moment may seem like life going wrong turns out even better over time. For example, initially Nick kept his house search to a mile radius from my work. Ideally, creating the opportunity for me to walk to work when weather permitted. He eventually expanded his search radius because repeatedly looking at houses on the same streets became frustrating. Nick expanding his search radius led to co-workers and my manager stepping up with rides and willingness to adapt my schedule, respectively. The “wrong” transforming into increased workplace gratitude.            

Question #8: What habits hindered you?

Two habits come to mind as hinderances. First, what I refer to as doom scrolling. Often this occurs when I need to let my brain decompress. Whether calming down from the workday before engaging in my own activities or giving my brain a chance to relax between tasks, I pull Instagram up on my phone and start scrolling through my feed. If I am not careful, what feels like five minutes turns into half an hour or 45 minutes. While seemingly inconsequential, if that happens twice a day over a week, I am looking at losing seven hours of productivity.

Secondly, sleeping in, or more precisely sleeping more than eight hours a night hinders me by minimizing my available time further. Defensively, I would argue if I only sleep six or seven hours one night, another night with nine hours of sleep helps to counterbalance the previous night’s deficit. All a discussion to get to momentarily.   

Question #9: How would you grade your overall effort and why?

Thinking back to grade my effort over the last 12 months I would give… NO! I would say I earned an A- because to use a generic sports metaphor, I made all the plays I possibly could. Whether fully committing to helping plan my 20-year reunion, tackling new challenges spurred by moving in with Nick, or executing on my ideas for content, I acted.

For example, after dressing up as Mr. Fantastic Reed Richards for the 2025 Helping Heroes 5k, I thought about reimagining Mr. Fantastic’s association with stretching and creating a stretching montage, “If Mr. Fantastic Reed Richards had cerebral palsy…” Months passed before I completed the project, but the video did get published in March.

Although to be fully transparent, I failed to turn every idea I had into published content. That has less to do with my overall effort though and more to do with how much time is in a day. Fittingly, that leads us to the next question.    

Question #10: How can you move forward better in the next year?

Correcting the habits I mentioned in my answer to question eight would go a long way. I respect my brain may need scrolling time to decompress between tasks. To prevent this healthy scrolling from transforming into doom scrolling, I could set a timer. Giving myself 15 or 20 minutes to scroll Instagram. Then I would move onto my next activity.

Regarding sleeping, I can look to improve maintaining a more consistent sleep schedule. Establishing routines to help ensure I get to bed at a time which guarantees me the opportunity to sleep eight hours. To combat any morning desire to stay in bed as long as possible, I believe listing out tasks the night before for what I will do the next morning would help. I notice I get up easier in the morning when I need to send out an email or add the finishing touches to a piece of content.        

Question #11: One year from today what will you look back on and celebrate?

Milestone wise, I am eyeing completing another half marathon (13.1 miles) sometime in 2026. Seeing how I finished my first half marathon in 2016, marking the 10-year anniversary with another one feels fitting. Proving to myself I am continuing to stay strong as I age.

Going beyond milestones though, I will celebrate the small everyday joys which tend to go unappreciated until they go away. So, celebrating each day I get to come to work and call my current manager boss. Same goes for getting to work with co-workers who value what I contribute to the workplace.

Outside work, I will celebrate the abilities I possess, such as the ability to exercise on my own and participate in races. Plus, celebrate the time I get to spend with my parents, brothers, niece and nephew. All celebrations which involve staying present in the moment and practicing gratitude. In my experience happiness grows from gratitude. Leading to not only a happy birthday, but a happy life.  

Happy birthday and a happy life!

As the above goes to show, taking time to self-reflect on your birthday allows you to level up a happy birthday into a birthday that matters. Working to enhance your self-awareness while maintaining proper priorities. Avoiding getting lost in life’s shuffle. So, forget just having a happy birthday. Self-reflect and make your birthday matter.

Until next time, don’t blend in. Blend out!    

-Zachary

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