My friend Josh alerted me that today is Inconvenience Yourself Day. The holiday is a reminder to go out of your way to be nice to others.
Before I knew about Inconvenience Day as a goodwill celebration, I observed Inconvenience Day as an inconvenient event for my 23rd birthday.
In New York, people are so put out by birthday parties. It’s as if weekend subway changes and distant neighborhoods are legitimate reasons not to have fun. So for my birthday that year, I decided to inconvenience people as much as possible.
Instead of throwing a convenient gathering at a central location, I made everyone go to the aquarium in Coney Island. Every aspect of the day was inconvenient: The F train was messed up, a sea lion tried to attack my friend and the service at Totonno’s was awful. But with the stated goal of inconvenience, any setback just furthered the theme and fun. If the meaning of life were just to contemplate our own morality, existence would be the ultimate party.
Outside of birthday parties, my entire life is incredibly inconvenient. I live in Brooklyn, but far from the G train. The cell phone reception in my apartment is terrible. My gym isn’t nearby, so I’m always carrying around sneakers. The only thing that is convenient to me is the Brooklyn Museum, and I have a standing date not to attend their first Saturday parties.
But as the inconvenience website states, “Inconvenience Yourself™ is a way of living.” And I am living that inconvenient dream.