Why not
They add new words to the dictionary every year. It’s a big production to christen words that have newly been integrated into our everyday vernacular. An English major might not get me far career-wise, but it does allow for an appreciation of words. Which is why I propose a new word for us.
Whynot. It would be a verb.
How did you spend your day today?
I was whynotting. I went on a run; I rode a bus to the end of the line, didn’t really like what was there, tried reading a Spanish newspaper but failed pretty miserably; got on the bus to come home and then spent the afternoon at a three-story no-kill cat shelter even though cats can be pretty gross.
Why did you do those things?
Why not?
It can be used in the present tense, in the past tense, it can even be used in the future tense (as in: All I really want to do is take the day off work and whynot for 9 hours instead of sitting behind a desk.) And it can even be condensed into one word, to save the cumbersome space between why and not. Whynot, right?
If we’re not working or studying or making money or writing or achieving tangible points of accomplishment, we’re wasting time. That’s how we’ve been groomed, right? We’ve been trained to fear existence. When existence is nothing but existence (and not growth, improvement, training), then it’s a bad thing. We need to do things for a reason. And Why Not is not an acceptable reason. When you reply with a Why Not when asked about why you do what you do, you sound callous and arrogant. You sound like you’re brushing off responsibility. But that’s not how things should be. That’s not what whynotting is about.
Whynotting should be what you do when can do whatever you want. When you have time. When you aren’t tied down at all. It should be what you personally want and need and are excited about doing. Why do we need a reason to do the things we do? Why can’t we just do without feeling our behaviors and actions must be propelled by an overarching goal to progress ourselves?
When you don’t know a lot of people and don’t have a lot of commitments, it’s easier to whynot. Independence and whynotting go hand in hand, mostly because when you’re alone, you feel less pressure to do the things other people want you to. Ride buses, read bad books, go to bed early, cook food and give it to homeless people, walk home in the rain, admit to feeling down when you’re feeling down.
Don’t feel you need to justify what you’re doing. Just do it. Do what makes you happy and see where it takes you.
Why not?
