When is National Authenticity Day? This day will take place on August 16 of each calendar year.
What is National Authenticity Day? National Authenticity Day will be a day to celebrate and demonstrate the most unique and genuine version of yourself, while also being bold and a little bit badass (ok, a lot is fully sanctioned too). August 16th will be a day to recognize the power of authenticity, a term that goes well beyond simply “being yourself”. This day will be all about the people that choose to do things their own way, rather than simply check the box.
Why is this day being celebrated or observed? “Bring your whole self to work”, they say. This is one of the biggest buzz-sayings running around the workplace. People are burnt-out, let-down, and fed-up with having to keep up the façade of being anyone but themselves.
So then came this thing: a global pandemic. And while it has brought about one the most traumatic times in history, it also had a silver lining. It’s been a massive tailwind for unprecedented (we had to get that word in here somewhere) levels of authenticity in the workplace…and in our lives.
Executives attended Zoom calls in their musty college hoodies. People learned if their colleagues had kids…and what classes they were taking…and when they took big poops. Even Fido and Bailey took copious notes under their owners desks.
But.
If we simply treat authenticity as a happy accident from the pandemic, we will miss a massive opportunity for positive change! Without authenticity being recognized, talked about, celebrated, and doubled-down on, we could all potentially lose one of the most positive consequences to have come out of the pandemic.
With that in mind, the idea of National Authenticity Day was born.
How should this day be celebrated or observed? There is only one rule for National Authenticity Day: there are no rules! There is no playbook, because that would be pretty hypocritical.
Who the heck knows what will arise on National Authenticity Day? It might mean someone tells their boss to “go to hell” after years of torture. Or maybe someone finally come out as being queer. Maybe someone drops the snoozy PowerPoint presentations at work and replace them with doozy stories. Or it could be as simple as someone finally having the guts to not wear makeup in front of their boyfriend for the first time.
Most importantly, authenticity is as contagious as a yawn in church. The hope is that individuals, teams, families, and even companies come together to recognize and encourage authenticity.
Click here to learn more about National Authenticity Day!
Who created this day? This day was created in June 2021 by b Authentic Inc.