It’s been years since I’ve had a happy birthday. I usually feel so down and useless on this day. It’s another reminder how I’ve wasted my life away by not following the path I wanted when I was younger and listening to my parents instead. That led to a life of poverty and misery.
I had an interview recently that did not go well and not surprisingly I did not get the job. The interviewer was also inexperienced (I looked her up on LinkedIn) and odd. For many people, ‘it gets better’ is a lie.
Well, start today on your new path. Look at what you’d like to do and set out a road map of how to achieve it
Sorry to hear you’re not feeling great at the moment. You are by no means alone in not having great time on your birthday. There is bit of an expectation, like Christmas, that everyone has to have a brilliant fun filled time on their birthday with loads of presents and lots of friends and/or family around. That’s not necessarily the way it is for many people and nothing to feel ashamed about.
But it looks like this is about a lot more than your birthday with dissatisfaction about life choices you have made influenced by your family.
Presumably you are still fairly young and have the potential to change your career and other life choices. It’s normal to feel rejected after not being successful at an interview but changing job isn’t easy - it can be a long haul of a few applications and interviews along the way before you land the job you’re after. Focus on the positive, that you got an interview and work on refining your interview technique. Also try to portray some confidence even if it’s bit of an act and not how you really feel.
Hopefully others will chime in too - there’s a nice community of lovely supportive people on this forum.
Good luck and keep persevering.
Thank you. I’m not young anymore, actually. Wish I was. I’d do things so differently
Sorry to hear that your Birthday left you feeling underwhelmed.
Take today to start the rest of your life with positivity and start planning the new you.
Set targets, small achievable steps and start working towards your goals.
The only person who can achieve what you want and deserve is you. Best foot forward.
Why limit it to birthdays.
As a great comedian once said, “life a series of endless, relentless, grinding disappointments”
Sorry, i’ve a very bleak sense of humour 
I don’t celebrate my birthday anymore. You are not alone.
Your not alone in your thinking and wishing things could have been different. I often wonder how my life could have been different if I had got myself an education but you know what I didn’t, I can’t change that but what you can change is your future. You are never to old to start or be something new. Every day you sit there thinking about your mistakes and the past is another day wasted.
Start from today and enjoy life. Life is to bloody short not to enjoy it 
I’m not a big fan of birthdays and to be honest I’d rather just carry on and not acknowledge it or do something that I enjoy and get something positive out of it.
In terms of the interview, its all experience, if you know what you’d like to have done better then work on that. If not you could ask for feedback from the person that interviewed you. Regardless of how much experience they’ve had in their current job, they still have that role so their employer saw something in their application. They may be able to see something that you could work on that would better your chances for any further interviews at that particular company. It also shows that you’re keen to improve.
It sounds like you feel very unfulfilled and have followed others instead of the beat of your own drum. If you’re able to, counselling may help or have a good rant with a friend.
I agree with @JoCat, I’d much prefer not to acknowledge the day and just carry on like every other day, or if I was to do something, to plan it and do it on my terms. I’m currently in the process of trying to swap shifts at work so I can be working on my birthday, rather than having to deal with family etc.
Keep persevering on the carer path, something will come along that will be a great fit, it might just take some time. And if you are continuing to feel down please seek out some help, even saying this out loud to someone you trust could make things feel a little better.
I’ve not had a happy birthday for decades! My last birthday (50! boooooooo) was downright miserable! Entirely on my own, 1 card plus no gifts! But, I am free, escaped from an abusive relationship, that is definitely something more to celebrate!
CLINK with my apple juice, here’s to a happy birthday, free life, or whatever you have to celebrate about! Cheers! 
I feel your pain and can’t begin to imagine how you’ve kept going through it all in what you’ve experienced 
Myself, I’ve been through much crap and still daily plow in it… I especially hate this time of year when it gets darker and colder as it triggers my anxiety and depression among other things and reminds me how lonely I get and that I’ve never had a relationship before.
My birthday also is 3 days after Christmas so that usually means I don’t do much or enjoy it and I have a thing about getting older so more than often cry myself to sleep on that day 