On the 27th of August, at the cusp of summer vacations ending and the welcoming of the routines of autumn, comes a seemingly quirky day: Just Because Day (yes, really).  This day gives pause to a transition period when people are trying to get back on their feet, students exit camps and enter classes, and workers leave beach fronts for business meetings.

Just Because Day comes at just the right time this year, when the world is mourning the loss of Robin Williams, certainly one of the best people to exemplify “just because”. From acting as an alien-cum-human in Mork & Mindy, to encouraging alternative learning styles in Dead Poet’s Society, to using clown humor for hospital patient recovery in Patch Adams, Williams’ acting represented the ultimate in “just because”.

And here’s why. The reasons for celebrating Just Because Day reflect a few mindsets, as follows:

1. Do something funny.
2. Help someone out.
3. Engage in the unordinary.
4. Be spontaneous.

Who better did any of the above than Robin Williams?

So go ahead. For yourselves and possibly also in tribute to Robin Williams, conjure up some ideas of what you might do – just because. Here are a few examples that can easily be accomplished at Rockaway Care Center:

a)      Eat dessert first.
b)      Call up a long lost friend.
c)       Read a magazine article, or watch a TV episode in which you have absolutely no previous interest.
d)      Walk sideways down the hall or street.
e)      Purchase an item for someone else .
f)       Offer a candy to the receptionist.
g)      Go to a store, with the express goal of being on the lookout for people who need help finding items, and offer to get said item for them.
h)      Clean or organize a corner of your living space that you tend to ignore.

At Rockaway Care Center, we encourage our residents to participate in activities that make them feel best, and make others feel their best, too. “Just becauseness” serves to pique one’s interest, and thereby keeps us enticed in the midst of the mundane. Commemorating “just because” is similar to keeping love alive in a long term relationship – one must purposefully perform acts to show love and feel love. Likewise, doing things just because allows one to look at life with a fresh lens for one’s self, as well as for others. Plenty of these peppering “just because” moments can be had at Rockaway Care Center. As Robin Williams’ character, John Keating, said in Dead Poet’s Society: “Carpe Diem” – seize the day.