Special Days: Apr 23 double-header (Birthday + World Book Day)

By🪐 atila, aspiring auntieApr 23, 2026
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It’s my birthday (and World Book Day, and Shakespeare’s birthday too).

World Book Day + Shakespeare

I grew up loving books in the most literal way: in libraries, with a librarian mom. I also worked at Barnes & Noble for about two and a half years in total, and I even did story time there sometimes, which feels extremely on-brand in retrospect.

Apr 23 is also Shakespeare’s birthday (and death date), which feels aggressively writer-coded. There are enough epitaphs about him, so I will say this: I want my flowers while I’m alive.

And I’m trying to move from reader to writer on purpose. I want to write a book, a real one, one I finish. So I’m building systems that make finishing inevitable: small, repeatable habits, clear milestones, and a way to keep going even when my brain gets loud. Publishing is not the point. The point is being able to tell myself, I made something, and it is complete.

Happy book day to anybody else who loves reading, and to anybody else trying to make something they can be proud of.

31 Birthday Wishes

I didn’t have a huge speech planned. I had a list of 31 wishes to focus on and center my next year around.

Turning 31 feels like a quiet reset. Not a reinvention or a dramatic before and after, just a steady decision to want a life that feels fulfilling and truly my own. I’m proud of myself for making it, for managing, for surviving when I truly did not want to, and for keeping my sense of humor and style intact.

At 30, I started creating in public and launched this blog. I also asked directly for help when I was struggling, and I received the support I needed to find myself again, recenter, and make my life feel worth living. So here’s what I want more of next. Some of it is serious. Some of it is silly on purpose. Most of it is both.

The 31 things I want more of going forward:

  1. Love and community
  2. The perfect lavender oat milk latte
  3. Always having a table at the cafe.
  4. Friends, I feel safe being myself around, not just people who want me to entertain them.
  5. Establishing care with a therapist who actually knows my diagnosis
  6. Romantic partners who can see the parts of me that are not tailored for them, and still love me when I am simply myself
  7. Dancing all night (2x a month seems fair!)
  8. Leading my life with less stigma toward my own identities and selfhood
  9. Orange shoes. I’m thinking clogs.
  10. The bandwidth to be present for the people around me, and to say when I need space.
  11. Recharging faster so I can still show up for life
  12. Laughing so hard I cry.
  13. Deeply needed catharsis crying that is so healing, I start to laugh.
  14. The motivation to write without self-doubt and second-guessing
  15. A sleep schedule I can brag about (No Under Eye Bags)
  16. A black cat companion
  17. A solid skincare routine
  18. Some new tattoos
  19. A full closet cleanout and apartment purge so I can streamline my life
  20. Sex. Well… good sex.
  21. A new apartment in a place that feels like a long-term home
  22. Train trips anywhere and everywhere
  23. A new bedding setup to refresh my loft bed, because I need a nest
  24. Sharing more about myself so nobody can call me “mysterious” anymore
  25. Being vulnerable with the right people
  26. Travel and international adventures (Korea, Scotland, Vancouver, Amsterdam, Prague…)
  27. A dating life that fulfills me as much as the people I’m dating
  28. A Borderline Successful podcasting schedule that exists and actually happens
  29. A YouTube channel I launched and stay active on
  30. A nice leather purse that feels grown up and fits a MacBook
  31. Not being pressed if that purse is full of candy.

Some of these are comfort cravings. Some of them are requests for stability. Some of them are me trying to build a life that is soft enough to live in.

I do not need every item to happen this year for the list to be real. I just need to keep choosing myself in small ways, consistently, until the small ways start to look like a life.

Happy birthday to me!

What’s on your wish list?

If you feel like sharing, tell me what you’re working toward right now. Are birthdays a big reflective moment for you, a low-key day, or something in between?

And if your birthday lands on an interesting day (a holiday, a weird little observance, a historical moment), I want to hear about it.

— Atila Martin

Blog: atilacore.pckt.blog

Bluesky: @atilacore.bsky.social

Contact: [email protected]

Atila’s Studio
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