Let’s celebrate a new holiday — Groundhog Day — every February 2nd!

Did you know that Groundhog Day is a real thing?

Yes, there really is an annual ceremony in Punxsutawney where they produce a groundhog called Phil.

Did you also know that Groundhog Day is today, February 2nd?

“OK”, I hear you protest, “But why celebrate Groundhog Day as a holiday? Doesn’t Groundhog Day mean a day in which events are being repeated so everything is boring and meaningless? Like in lockdown! Why celebrate that?”

I put it to you that this is not the real meaning of the movie, Groundhog Day.

For this film is philosophy masquerading as comedy — a bit like another favourite of mine, The Good Place.

I’ve written elsewhere about what I take to me the deep philosophical message of Groundhog Day — you can find it here — Groundhog Day and Stoicism

But in this article I want to share with you the reason why I think we should celebrate Groundhog Day as a holiday. It’s because I think that if we did, we might have a really nice day — like I have today, the first day I have tried it.

The idea of someone being stuck in a time loop and repeating everything forever is not entirely new. In fact the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche came up with a…