Let’s celebrate March!

There is much to celebrate during the month of March and I feel it my duty to alert you to some of the lesser-known celebrations you might otherwise miss. If you are a college basketball fan, you know about ‘March Madness.’  We’ve heard of The Ides of March, March 15.  This day is also Everything-You-Think-Is-Wrong Day followed by St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, ‘the wearing of the green’.  You don’t have to be Irish to participate. If you don’t want to celebrate Everything-You-Think-Is-Wrong-Day, wait until March 16 and celebrate Everything-You-Do-Is-Right-Day.

According to MentalFloss.com and/or HolidayInsights.com, there are over a dozen more special days for celebration in March that you may not know about.  Some events are celebrated for the entire month, such as National Music in the Schools Month; National Frozen Foods Month; National Irish American Month, designated by Congress in 1995.  We also celebrate National Red Cross Month and National Social Workers Month, to name a few. And maybe you should be aware that the second week of March is designated National Bubble Week, whatever that means.  On some days we recognize important people such as the birthday of Alexander Graham Bell and Alfred Hitchcock.

Here are a few of my favorites:

March 1st is National Peanut Butter Day.  So, if you are a peanut-butter lover, make that sandwich in celebration, and maybe throw in a little jelly!  If you are not a peanut butter fan, maybe you’ll celebrate National Popcorn day, the second Thursday of the month.

This is the month we celebrate National Puppy Day, National Waffle Day, and National Eiffel Tower Day.

And if you’re so inclined, don’t forget to celebrate daylight savings time (March 11 this year) and/or the first day of spring, coming on March 20 this year. Extra-terrestrial Abduction Day is March 20, if you want to mark this on your calendar.  Did we leave anything out?

Yes, we did. Old-Stuff Day is March 2.  While hoarders might not celebrate this day, I’ve chosen to. I find ‘old stuff’ at least a helpful metaphor for cleaning out our mental/emotional closets, emptying some old mental and emotional files, dusting off some long-held ideas that have not served us well.  It’s an opportunity to discard some ways we do things over and over, expecting a different outcome, only to be disappointed. Think about the same ‘old stuff’ you do every day and how you can break out of these old routines.  My concept of spring cleaning is not when you clean out your closet and get rid of clothes and shoes you haven’t worn for years, or you clean out your dresser and chest of drawers, discovering things there that you haven’t seen or even thought about in ages.

Here’s my idea of good spring cleaning. I take myself off the hook by not taking spring cleaning literally but rather, seeing the concept as metaphorical.  We get rid of ‘old stuff’ in order to make room for the new – new ideas, behaviors, experiences, a new way of being in the world. If we don’t make room, it won’t happen.

If none of these days of celebration interest you, perhaps you will want to celebrate National Panic Day on March 9.  Suggestions for celebrating this day include: crying uncontrollably; tearing your hair out; indulging your deepest fears; letting loose with unbridled hysteria; or running through the streets shrieking like a banshee.

This might be a good month to create your own day of celebration, maybe National Appreciation Day, or National Day of Joy.  I especially like the idea of a National Adventure Day, when we look at our openness to new experiences, to new ideas, seeking ways to broaden our world.  I am reminded of Helen Keller’s statement that “Either life is a daring adventure or nothing.”  The nice thing about all this is, you get to choose.