Bones Or No Bones: How A Pug Taught TikTok A New Form Of Self-Care

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“It’s a bones day, bubs!” 

It’s 9 am and Noodle the pug has just stood on his own four feet, alerting all of TikTok (and the world) that we’re going to have a productive day.

If you think I’m crazy for letting a pug run my life, get in line. But the internet has been transformed by this pug over the last few months. People are basing their productivity and activity levels on Noodle the Pug.

Noodle is a 13-year-old Good Boy who was adopted by his owner at 7 years old. The pug predicts, and the owner announces how our days will go based on if he decides to stand up in the morning (indicating a bones day), or if he flops back onto his very cute tummy (for a no bones day). Noodle the Pug has taken TikTok, the internet, and the trajectory of people’s days by storm.

Noodle & Co.

Jon Graz started posting TikToks about his pug in 2020 but only started the ‘bones days’ in September of this year. Noodle’s fame grew exponentially in the past month, and he is all anyone can talk about.

Noodle has become this generation’s groundhog, and every day is Groundhog Day. Jon Gratz’s 4.4 million followers all wait together to see what kind of a day the pug will bring them.  Reader, please know that I am writing this on a bones day.

Noodle’s Rise To Fame

One of the most astounding things about Noodle’s fame is that it hasn’t gone away. If you’ve ever been on social media, and especially on TikTok, trends come and go every week. The average TikTok trend lasts 5-7 days. But Noodle has been waking up and predicting people’s days for two months now, and it doesn’t seem like he’s going away any time soon. 

Women wait to see if their wedding day will be a success or not, employees debate going into the office, one woman decided to get up and go on a walk because Noodle could.

Noodle’s owner wanted his side of the internet to be a place where people could come and get refreshed rather than discouraged. So Jon has made it his goal to start every day by encouraging his followers, bones or no bones.

No Bones

People love Noodle because, for some, he and his owner are the only ‘people’ telling others that it’s okay to take a break.

We work 40+ hours a week and think it’s normal, natural, and healthy. And now a pug tells us to sleep and wear soft pants, and the world is so desperate for someone to say that. So we all take advice from this dog.

Should we be taking all the days off and not getting out of bed six out of seven days of the week? No, but we probably shouldn’t be doing the opposite and working from the second we get out of bed to when we go to sleep six out of seven days. It’s about balancing the bones and no bones days.

Jon explains the heart of his campaign for bones and no bones days:

“A bones day is where you have to go after your ambition or a task that you were putting off. A no bones day is a day where you have permission to wear soft clothes, self-care, take a bath.”

It’s not that no bones days mean that we shouldn’t do anything or they’re bad days; rather, they’re days for ‘soft pants’ and treating yourself gently.

While my life might not actually revolve around a pug (no bones days are not national holidays in the US yet), I do enjoy the small reminders on no bones days to take it easy and give myself the rest I need.

Claiming Your Bones Day

On the flip side, you are allowed to celebrate when you and Noodle have a bones day! There are going to be days when you feel productive and ready to take on whatever the day brings you. And some days, it does help to have a pug affirm your need to get stuff done. It’s okay to go hard some days. But maybe look at Noodle and respect that even that wise old pug has balance in his days.

How To Balance The Bones

A pug isn’t running the universe. You can choose what kind of a day you’ll have and people need to respect that. If you’re worn out from having a ‘bones day’ yesterday, it’s okay to breathe today. We don’t need a pug to tell us to put on our soft pants and take it easy. It is nice to go on an app that so many go to when they’re worn out or procrastinating starting the day and have someone remind us to breathe, but we don’t need that.

While Noodle the pug is pretty amazing, I think the biggest lesson he’s teaching us is to be our own Noodle and decide for ourselves if we want to have a bones day or not.

Our Challenge

One, if you haven’t waited with the rest of the world to watch Noodles the pug wake up and decide to stand or not, I suggest you do.

But two, if you’ve felt unbalanced in your life with your productivity level, maybe start listening to the internet-famous pug and let yourself rest as much as you let yourself work. It might surprise you how helpful it is to let a pug decide your activity level.

I want to leave you with one thought. If the collective internet finds it cute, funny, encouraging, adorable, and inspirational that a 13-year-old pug (who probably has a pretty easy life) doesn’t want to get out of bed some days, we should probably be as gentle with ourselves, who probably have it a little harder than the pug.

Bones day or not, soft or hard pants, we all deserve a little rest every now and then, and we are not less than because of that.

Have you heard of Noodle before? Are you having a bones or a no bones day? Comment below!

For More Articles About Rest, Read These Next:

Here’s How To Leave Work At The Office And Enjoy Your Free Time

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