If you’re like me, each morning you wake up, roll over and grab your phone and scroll through TikTok,  anxious to see if Noodle, a 13-year-old pug has bones or not. When Noodle the pug wakes up each morning, his owner Jonathan Graziano attempts to stand him up. If Noodle stands, it’s a bones day, but if he falls, it is a bones day.

If it’s a bones day, that means that it’s going to be a good day. This is what people hope for the day they have to turn in a massive project or participate in a terrifying interview. A bone’s day is where you can feel safe trying something new.

If it’s a no bones day, that means that today is probably going to be a little bit “ruff.” This is the day that you can sit inside all day, sleep in and just take some time to give yourself a little self-care. This is the perfect day to take a long shower, throw on a face mask and a day where you hopefully won’t have anything important to do.

This pug has ravaged the nation with millions of people falling in love with the adorable pug and allowing it to determine what kind of day we are going to have. The pug is trending on TikTok, getting millions of views on each video with people writing songs about the pug, drawing him and more. Even news stations like NPR, Today, CNN and  the Washington Post have picked up the story. In my own home, my roommates have begun sending messages in our group chat, notifying me whether or not it is a bones day.

Something about this adorable pug has attracted people. Noodle gives an almost Groundhog Day experience every single day, bringing people joy. It gives people the validation they need to embrace their good days, and accept their bad ones. Neil Dagnall, a reader in applied cognitive psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University in England, in an interview with CNN stated, “Life is full of uncertainty and Noodle’s actions provide a form of guidance and reassurance to some people.”

Dagnall is exactly right with his words. Since the start of the pandemic, people have been searching for a sense of security, and everything that Noodle does works to guide us on our way. In an interview with the Washington Post, Lisa Haberman, a media and marketing consultant and UCLA extension adjust professor agreed, saying, “I think that Noodle is the personification of how we all feel. We’re all exhausted; we’re all overwhelmed. We all want to have a no bones day. And I think Noodle just kind of empowers us to push back a little bit.”

Now I think we can all agree that bones days and no bones days are equally wonderful for different reasons. Bones days remind up to give our everything to the day, and no bones days remind us to step back and take a moment for ourselves. So check out @jongraz and see what the pug has to say today!