National Nothing Day is a day “celebrated” on January 16. I say “celebrated” because that contradicts the whole point of National Nothing Day, to literally do nothing. Yes, you heard me right: Nothing!

When I first heard of this day, I thought it was a joke, but after reading about it on www.NationalDayCalendar.com,  I realized it is an actual day dedicated to doing nothing.

Proposed in 1972 by teacher Jothy Narayanasamy and observed annually on January 16 since 1973, after the idea was adopted by San Francisco Examiner columnist Harry Pullman Coffin (https://cutt.ly/YjvzQmv). It was considered “the ultimate unevent that would ‘provide Americans with one national day when they can just sit without celebrating, observing, or honoring anything.’”

The day is actually sponsored by a foundation that was created by the journalist, Coffin’s National Nothing Foundation, Capitola, California. It is unsure if the foundation lives up to the dream of doing nothing every day of the year.

To participate in National Nothing Day, all you have to do is nothing, but you’d better make sure you’ve done enough to keep tomorrow from being Catch Up on All the Things You Didn’t Do Yesterday Day.