Happy Sunday, Reader!

Greetings from Sheboygan, where I recently had my first Pumpkin Pie Blizzard of the season, which is one of my favorite fall treats. Last weekend, we made our first visit to the Shalom Zoo, where we saw two baby cougars and fed apples to the bears. Oh, and before I forget...

Happy birthday!

Odds are, at least a few people reading this are celebrating a birthday today.

So to you, I say again, happy birthday! 🎂

Even if today isn't your special day, you can still celebrate, as a guy I met while speaking in Canada reminded me. Steve shared that he once ordered a birthday cake from a bakery with the words "Somebody's Birthday" scripted out in frosting. He reasoned that somewhere in the world, it was somebody's birthday.

No lies detected.

If you've ever purchased one of our Celebrate Everything calendars, you know that it's filled with fun, ridiculous, and completely real holidays. You also know that we leave one day a month blank, so you can make up your own holiday.

I often wonder if anyone actually does.

Just as I wonder if anyone reading this will actually order a cake with the words "Somebody's Birthday" on it.

Both are examples of resisting what's supposed to be true.

You're not supposed to make up your own holidays.

You are supposed to know the person you order a birthday cake for.

Both are rules that don't exist, and we let many such "rules" dictate the direction of our lives. The weird thing is when we're the ones who made the rule in the first place.

We accidentally create rules that don't exist all the time. If you do something a certain way a few times in a row — even if it wasn't particularly intentional — it becomes a routine, which often turns into a rule. Do it long enough, and you might forget you were the one who originated the rule. It simply becomes the way we do things around here.

Routines can be useful, and they can easily become ruts.

And ruts are the moldy places where Adultitis likes to grow.

It helps to re-examine our routines once in a while, looking for signs of Adultitis. Otherwise, we're liable to throw away something good when we only needed to change the routine.

Instead of abandoning your weight loss goal, maybe you just need to mix up your workout routine.

Instead of breaking that relationship, maybe you just need to break the monotony that's made it stale.

Instead of closing the business, maybe you just need to change how you market it.

I'm taking my own advice with this year's Celebrate Everything calendar. We made the first one in 2015, so the 2027 edition is lucky number 13. That's a long time to do anything, and the routine is burning us out. Rather than abandon the calendar altogether, we decided to change up the routine.

Thus begins The Great Calendar Experiment.

First, we're only taking orders for seventeen days. That's it. However many calendars are reserved is how many we'll print. This takes the guesswork out of figuring out how many to order. It also means we can fulfill all the orders in a few days from our garage, so I don't have to lug thousands of calendars downstairs for storage and future fulfillment. (Selfishly, I am most excited about this part of the plan.)

The next wrinkle is that we're increasing the calendar price by a dollar each day. The best deal we're offering is on day one. They go on sale on October 15th for just $15 each.

On the 16th, it's $16 apiece.

It goes up each day until October 30th, when calendars are $30, our normal price.

Will this work? Will we sell more calendars than last year or less?

Who knows?

What I do know is that doing things the way they've always been done is a rule that doesn't exist.

This is different, feels fun, and has us excited about talking about the calendar again.

I wanted to give you a heads up so you can make plans to get yours.

And when you encounter the monthly square with the invitation to make up your own holiday, don't worry if nothing immediately comes to mind.

Go ahead and throw some candles on a cake and sing somebody a happy birthday.

Because that day is most definitely somebody's birthday.

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Do you have any "unofficial" holidays you or loved ones celebrate? Share your thoughts with me, join the conversation in The Wonderground, or spend time this week recording them in your journal.

Stay young and stay fun,

P.S.

A special hello to all the new Adultitis Fighters I met at the WAMSS conference in Stevens Point. 👋 What an honor to be asked back after speaking for you ten years ago (which feels like twenty when you add COVID in there). Welcome!

• ​Families Brought Together by Barbarian Acts​
• ​It Only Took One to Make Them Famous!​
  ....read more in The Wonderground

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