National JoyGerm Day is a day to spread some joy

Published 1:01 pm Friday, January 5, 2024

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If you have a Chase Calendar of Events, your can find a reason to celebrate almost every day of the year – National Hot Tea Day, National Clean Off Your Desk Day, Show And Tell Day at Work, Bald Eagle Appreciation Day, National Chocolate Cake Day, National Hugging Month, and National JoyGerm Day, all of which are celebrated in January.
National JoyGerm Day celebrated on January 8 seems like a good day for everyone to add to their calendar of events and celebrate. The day encourages us to share positivity and happiness and make efforts to spread joy where we can.
At this time of year, cold and flu germs spread like crazy – almost everyone knows someone who is suffering from a cold weather malady. So, National JoyGerm Day is the perfect opportunity to spread kindness, happiness, and love, too.
During this day, we can win people over through smiles, hugs, grins, and more. It is a day to spread cheer through “germs of joy” and a time for positivity, optimism, smiles, and kindness to everyone we come into contact with.
Joan E. White founded National JoyGerm Day in 1981. A resident of Syracuse, N.Y., she got the idea for the day after she came across a newspaper story about a California couple who offered to worry for others in exchange for a fee. White thought this approach to facing the world’s problems was flawed and established an organization to counteract worriers. She then founded JoyGerms Limited and designated January 8 as National JoyGerm Day, which also happened to be her late mother’s birthday. Although JoyGerms Day was unofficially first held on January 8, 1981, when the idea for it and JoyGerms Limited came about, it didn’t become a national day until 1985.
It’s a day for turning your grunts into grins. It’s a day for dispensing friendly hi’s, happy hellos, words of encouragement, sunny smiles, helping hands, and listening ears. It’s a time for sending cheerful cards to those who are sick and feeling down.
It’s a good day to share a hug with someone. Just make sure you get their consent before you do it. Surprise someone by taking them out to lunch, or giving them a gift of appreciation.
Everyone can use a bit of joy in their life, especially on cold winter days.
Nothing wrong with spreading such good germs as happiness should be highly infectious.
National JoyGerm Day is celebrated to encourage people to spread a type of germ that is good both for the spreader and the one who gets infected. It is the perfect time to spread the happiness and joy that you have in you with others and thereby make them feel better.
Take time out Monday to spread a little joy to those around you!

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