Hello all,

I'm a chap who's going to be turning 30 in a few months and I'm really not looking forward to it.

As such, I really don't want to celebrate my birthday and I don't want others to acknowledge it.

I'm not adverse to the idea of celebrating my birthday if there was something worth celebrating, but with 30 being something of a milestone, family (my Dad and Stepmum in particular) appear to be planning something.

I have told them time and time again that if they do want to grant me one birthday wish, it is that they ignore the occasion and go about their day like any other.

I know I sound like an ungrateful prick, but I hate the idea of it being considered a big occasion. For me, 30 is meant to be a fresh start, a clean slate if you will, but celebrating my birthday is going to make me feel tremendously down and just remind me what a write-off my 20s were.

Truly, I wish to just take some time off from work and perhaps spend a week by myself exploring a city I haven't been to like Prague, or Berlin.

I know that my family are going to ignore my wishes all the same and at the very least call me and try to give me presents. I'd rather they just give the money spent on such presents to charity and be done with it.

The few friends I have are overseas and haven't contacted me in some time, so I'm not motivated to have a party of any kind. I don't have a spouse, so I really would rather just not be the centre of attention and go off somewhere and do something I enjoy doing by myself.

What say you folks, am I being unreasonable, especially of I just ignore the calls and messages I'll inevitability get that day and explicitly tell my loved ones to leave me alone that day in advance?

Many thanks.